This year has been a tough one for everyone, including those working in the drug discovery field during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Nevertheless, Domainex has had a fantastic year with revenue growth of over 30% and 28 new scientists joining their ranks in 2020. Domainex has formed new partnerships with industry leaders such as LUNAC Therapeutics and APEIRON Biologics AC. Additionally, Domainex has out licensed one of its drug discovery programmes to Invivoscribe Inc. (San Diego) which Invivoscribe will progress with the intention of developing a therapy to treat patients with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. It is not surprising therefore that Domainex continues to attract both new and returning talent.
Dr Francesco Fasano (left-hand side photograph) joined the chemistry team at Domainex in September 2020 and Dr Nick Martin (right-hand side photograph) re-joined having left in 2018 to complete a two-year research placement in New Zealand. A few months into their new roles we wanted to find out more about why they wanted to work for a CRO, what makes Domainex’s approach to research unique and their insights on pursuing a career in chemistry.
Francesco obtained a Master’s degree in chemical sciences with distinction from the University of Bari Aldo Moro in his hometown of Bari, Italy, in 2013. After a brief period working on the synthesis of organic semiconductors at University of Bari spin-out Synchimia SRL, he moved to the University of Valencia, Spain, to learn more about organometallic chemistry. Francesco completed his PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Cardiff under the supervision of Prof. D Bonifazi where he focussed on polyaromatic hydrocarbons that incorporated boron and nitrogen atoms. Two years ago, he was appointed to the Hunter group at the University of Cambridge as a research associate, where he focused on the design and synthesis of information oligomers. Equipped with this wealth of experience, Domainex was delighted to welcome Francesco to the team in September 2020.
Nick obtained a BSc(hons) in medicinal and pharmaceutical chemistry from Loughborough University in 2010 and then went on to obtain a Master’s degree in cancer chemistry with distinction from the University of Leicester. Following this, Nick conducted his PhD at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research on the development of small molecule inhibitors of ERK5 and started at Domainex whilst writing up his research in 2015. Highlights of his time at Domainex include working on a collaborative project with Imperial College London and helping to establish Domainex’s FragmentBuilder platform. Nick left Domainex in 2018 to take up a new position at the highly regarded Ferrier Institute, part of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, to experience living and working abroad. His return to the UK coincided with the pandemic, and the team at Domainex were delighted to offer Nick a new position, which he accepted without hesitation.
When looking for a new job, finding the right company can feel like an overwhelming task. However, for Francesco, Domainex seemed like an obvious choice “In 2018, Domainex was listed as the fastest growing Contract Research Organisation (CRO) in Europe. Joining the team at Domainex therefore seemed like the perfect professional growth opportunity that I had been seeking for long time.”
Returning to work at an organisation also makes the decision more straightforward. Encouraged by his previous “fantastic experiences” Nick emphasised that “[Domainex] was a great place for me to grow and learn about the CRO industry. I built some great relationships and was keen to pick those up, albeit in a socially distanced way. Most of all I knew the sort of work I would be doing and that it was a place I had previously been successful.”
Working in the medicinal/synthetic chemistry team the day-to-day responsibilities for both Nick and Francesco are varied. “A typical day consists of reading literature on key progress made in the field as well as designing and synthesising novel compounds and analysing data,” says Francesco.
Combining lab and office tasks as well as the changeable nature of projects keeps the job stimulating for Nick “Early on in a project you might perform library synthesis, producing lots of compounds to build up Structure Activity Relationships (SAR) whereas the late stages might focus on longer syntheses to answer specific design questions or optimising a region of a molecule to fix a particular property.” He continues that “One of the things I most appreciate about working at Domainex is the variety of tasks over the course of a year.”
In a competitive CRO market, generating an inclusive and supportive culture where employees feel valued is important for attracting and retaining top talent. According to Nick, Domainex really stands out in this regard since “if you identify something that could be improved, you very quickly become part of the improvement process.” For Francesco, diversity amongst the team is what makes Domainex unique “The team combines years of experience and multidisciplinary backgrounds equipping us with a broad knowledge base for a range of applications.”
Domainex offers fully integrated drug discovery research support. To succeed in this mission, effective collaboration between teams is essential. Nick explains why Domainex does this so well: “Whilst we are growing, we are not so big that people don’t all know each other. When you need to work collaboratively with someone in analytical chemistry or biology, you’re not speaking with them for the first time, making it a lot easier to solve the issue or progress the project quickly.”
Both Nick and Francesco joined Domainex during the Covid-19 pandemic. The vitality of the science industry has been confirmed unequivocally this year and as such job opportunities at Domainex have continued to develop naturally in parallel with the company. However, onboarding and workplace culture has undergone a seismic shift. Domainex has had to adapt quickly to continue to support its staff and research partners.
Francesco explains his impressions of the response “The global pandemic has meant that companies and institutions in the science sector have had to find new ways of managing working hours in order to protect the health of their employees. Domainex implemented an innovative approach by introducing different shifts: working on site for four days and then from home for four consecutive days. This has allowed Domainex to reduce the building occupancy and to keep groups separate thereby reducing the spread in the event of an outbreak. Thanks to this approach and the additional safety measures Domainex has put in place, I feel safe and well protected at work and we have been able to continue to progress our research.”
Nick has also been very impressed “Coming from a country that has dealt with the virus so efficiently, as has been the case in NZ, I wasn’t expecting to feel as safe as I do. I have been very happy with the shift system the company is running. The social distancing in the building is well observed as is mask wearing to the point where it is just second nature to properly protect your co-workers.”
Despite having only been with Domainex for three months, Francesco is already making a positive contribution to the projects he is working on “I have managed to validate complex multi-step synthetic routes to several target compounds. It has been exciting to make such rapid progress and I am looking forward to the future progress we’ll make.”
Comparing where Domainex is in 2020 to when Nick first joined just five years ago provides yet further evidence of the impressive progress made “What is particularly interesting for me is to see the FragmentBuilder platform being well used and identifying excellent starting points for drug discovery programmes. Having been part of the team that initially put this together it is fantastic to see it working successfully. The company has grown a lot in the last year or so, so there is a nice mixture of familiar faces and new people to meet.”
We are always looking for innovative scientists and industry experts to join our growing, collaborative team and share new insights and a different point of view. Visit our careers page to find out more about joining Domainex and our current vacancies.