1. Search for the ‘God Particle’ – the Higgs Boson
OK, so we’ve all seen Brian Cox captivating spellbound audiences with his silver tongue on the BBC, and alluding to the search for the God particle – a.k.a. the Higgs boson. So what exactly is this ‘God particle’ and if it finally is discovered what will change?

The Higgs boson is a hypothetical elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics and its existence, in simple terms, will explain why fundamental particles such as quarks and electrons have mass. The particle was nicknamed the ‘The God Particle’ by Leon Lederman, an American experimental physicist and Nobel Prize laureate because of the particle’s crucial role in the fundamental workings of physics in the 21st century, combined with its amazing elusiveness.

Physicists have spent years yearning to catch a glimpse of the particle, so much so that they spent $10 billion on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, a particle accelerator just outside Geneva in Switzerland. After years of toil, it looks like they are finally close to finding the ‘god-damn-it” particle (nicknamed so by some physicists as they tend to pull their hair out in frustration in attempts to capture it), and in December 2011 there was a flurry of activity in CERN as data resembling the Higgs Boson was captured. If future data planned to be gathered later this year corroborates the finding of last December, capturing the Higgs will likely be regarded as one of the 21st century’s great discoveries.

2. The Ultimate Anti-Aging Cream
The holy grail of cosmetics; the mythical fountain of youth – well it now seems likely that we are close to discovering the ultimate anti-aging formula. Well, maybe not; but at least there is a theoretical basis for gene therapy in medicine now aimed at slowing and reversing the aging process as well as impacting on the processes of diseases such as Cancer.

Scientists in Harvard Medical School have discovered a genetic mechanism which allows them to artificially age, and then rejuvenate laboratory mice. Thus, it is theoretically possible to reverse some of the effects of the aging process in mammals. They achieved this by creating a genetic switch on the gene that controls the expression of telomerase, an enzyme that controls the repair of Telomeres (repetitive strands of DNA that protect the ends of chromosomes), which are critical in the aging process, as well as being implicated in Cancer. This research has the potential to yield significant advances in the treatment of diseases such as malignancies and age-related illnesses in the future.

3. So Time Travel is Possible?

Well maybe, but unlikely, according to the majority of the physics community. In September 2011, researchers from the OPERA collaboration caused a stir in the scientific community when they announced that they had measured neutrinos (small sub-atomic particles) that appeared to travel faster than the speed of light. Poor Einstein would be turning in his grave at the news; this would not only violate his theory of special relativity, but also it would rock the fundamental foundations of theoretical physics.

However, the majority of the scientific community view the results dubiously and indicate that there must be some anomaly in the findings. Physicists are now scrambling to independently replicate the experiment later this year; which involves firing neutrinos at a detector hundreds of miles away and measuring the time taken for the journey. Once replicated and depending on the results, physicists will either breathe a sigh of relief or will enter a phase of mass group hysteria; adding a new meaning to the term ‘uncertainty’ in science.

4. Search for Extrasolar Planets in the Goldilocks zone
Everyone is talking about it – in the press, in the media and all over the TV at any opportunity – ‘are we alone?’ Well the hunt for planets outside our solar system that may be able to support life took a leap forward last December when astronomers at NASA’s Ames Research Center announced that they had found the best candidate yet for a planet outside our solar system which could potentially support life.
The planet, affectionately named Kepler-22b after the telescope it was first spotted by, is right bang in the middle of the proposed habitable zone of its star – the ‘Goldilocks Zone’. Although not much is known about the composition of the planet (its 600 light-years away, that’s 3.5 x 1015 miles), it is 2.4 times the size of the earth and orbits its sun every 290 days. If it has a surface, scientists think the surface temperature would be somewhere around 210C – perfect for life.
The search continues and one day we may indeed find the perfect extrasolar planet – one which has life on it (detected by the presence of oxygen and other by-products of life in the atmosphere); the problem is getting there or even saying hello.

5. Human Stem Cell Research

Major controversy still surrounds the use of human embryos as a source of stem cells, however in recent years scientists have finally cracked the problem and are now able to manufacture an almost limitless supply of stem cells in the lab without destroying embryos. This limitless supply has opened the flood gates for stem cell research, allowing researchers to develop novel therapies for conditions such as blindness and Parkinson’s disease to effective treatments for spinal cord damage.

Stem cells are found in all multicellular organisms, and they can divide and differentiate into many different specialized cell types, effectively they are a ‘wildcard’ cell. If inserted into the human body, they tend to change into the cells that surround them. This has wide reaching implications for medicine and research is now underway across the globe to find effective treatments for conditions such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (which has special significance here in Ireland as Prof. Orla Hardiman in Beaumont Hospital is regarded as one of the world’s leading researchers in the field), damage to the heart after a heart attack, blindness, deafness, skin disorders, arthritis, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s to name but a few. Watch this space; it is the future of medicine.

6. Quantum Computing

The revolution of quantum physics may soon be about to pay off with the advent of quantum computers, a term that has been bandied about for some years now. The promise of super fast computers, performing certain calculations billions of times faster than any silicon-based computer and which that may even surpass the human brain in raw computing power, may not be too far away. Late last year another milestone in the race to develop the first practical quantum computer was made when a team at the University of Bristol’s Centre for Quantum Photonics developed a microchip which manipulates and measures entanglement and mixture, two quantum phenomena which are fundamental principles in quantum computing.

The major potential applications of quantum computing are in cryptography and communications; however the potential for developing the first artificial intelligence is now within the grasp of reality.

7. Can Arsenic really be a Building Block of Life?

The element Arsenic, historically labelled the Poison of Kings due to its popularity as a poison of the ruling classes in disposing of each other, is highly toxic to all known life on Earth, or at least that’s what we thought up to a couple of years ago.

NASA scientists have discovered a new microbe in the hostile Mono Lake in the USA that uses the deadly poison Arsenic as a component in its biochemical machinery instead of Phosphorus causing a shake up in the way scientists have traditionally thought about the biochemistry of life.

Traditionally, the six basic building blocks of all life on Earth were Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sulphur and Phosphorus, with a dusting of trace elements thrown into the mix. The new discovery sees Arsenic replace Phosphorus as an element of the structural backbone of DNA in the microbe, paving the way for a change in how scientists view the possibility of life in once-thought hostile environments. If a microbe can build a deadly poison into its biochemical processes, who is to say that other organisms don’t exist in the most hostile parts of the solar system, using elements we regard as toxic in their fundamental biochemistry.

8. What’s up with the Weather these Days?

It’s hard for any of us to dismiss noticing the subtle changes in the weather patterns of the last twenty years or so (well, for anyone over thirty, that is). However on a more serious note, recent evidence from climatology researchers has shown a disturbing trend – the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting at an ever faster rate than once thought, making them the greatest single contributor to rising sea levels.

The study, performed over a period of nearly twenty years showed that in 2006 the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets lost a combined mass of 475 gigatonnes (one billion tonnes) a year on average and that the pace of loss was found to be accelerating rapidly over the period of the study. They predict that at the current rate of melting, the global sea level could rise by 32 cm (over 1 foot) by 2050. With the ever increasing power of supercomputers, climatologists and meteorologists are busy modelling the changing weather patterns in an attempt to see how the reality of global warming will impact the environment of the future, the near future that is.

9. So now we become the Grand Architect

One of the spin offs of the multiple genome projects over the last ten years has been an intimate knowledge of how the base pairs on DNA combines in sequence to form life. This challenged geneticist J. Craig Venter, one of the main players in the human genome project, to put his architectural skills to task in an attempt to create synthetic life. In 2010, he succeeded in creating life in the lab by combining the 582,000 base pairs required for the complete genome of the new bacteria, proposed to be called Mycoplasma laboratorium. This paves the way for the genetic engineering of bacteria to perform tasks such as the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals and bio-fuels. Who knows we may even be able to create bacteria designed to kill other bacteria.

10. Medicines made just for You

Personalised medicine, or pharmacogenomics to the geeks among us, is fast becoming one of the hottest areas of research in therapeutic medicine, with the promise of more effective therapies for a range of debilitating and terminal conditions. Personalised medicine is based upon the premise that drugs acts differently in different people due to genetic variation. With the advent of the human genome project, and the revolution in diagnostic testing, researchers can now tailor drug regimens for individuals with a high degree of accuracy, leading to a significant increase in therapeutic effectiveness.

The most notable application of personalised medicine will be in the treatment of Cancer – instead of treating Cancer with an ‘one size, fits all’ approach as with chemotherapy, clinicians will be able to identify the genetic basis of the tumour and design a treatment regimen based upon this. The costs of diagnostic testing and the lack of current available drugs prohibit the widespread use of personalised medicine at the moment, however in the coming years a raft of new biopharmaceutical therapies will be coming onto the market, the culmination of over thirty years of research, heralding the field of pharmacogenomics into mainstream medicine.

At the end of the recruitment process, there is the inevitable offer. Do companies ‘lowball’ (ie offer less to see what they can get away with) candidates in a tough economy? Are all offers final? Is negotiation, or haggling, part and parcel of the process?

This is an area where working with a recruiter is a huge advantage. One of MANY, of course!! It’s great to have an intermediary to speak on your behalf and talk directly to the company about the specifics of an offer. In our experience, the majority of offers which are tabled are fair. A good recruiter will find out what your exact package is and where your expectations lie, as they are sending your CV to the company. We do this with all candidates, in order to remove any ambiguity which may exist when candidates get to this final stage of the process.

However, some companies will try to offer less in order to grab a bargain as it were. Some almost expect a haggle! They can view this as a sign of what kind of candidate they are dealing with: if a candidate can’t negotiate now then how will they perform in high-pressure situations with stakeholder / suppliers / buyers etc?

Care is needed in this process, however. Candidates can’t seem overly hungry or greedy, so balance is key. The specifics of the contract must be examined and questioned if there are any issues. This also demonstrates that the candidate is detailed-orientated and careful. Any approaches made regarding salary must be considered and well thought-out. Larger companies tend to have tight salary bands, outside of which there may be no negotiation. A bit like Arsenal FC a few years ago! Smaller companies may have more flexibility, but may also be more cost conscious.

Know what you’re worth, and if you need to haggle to get there, haggle!

- Brian (brian.c at lifescience.ie)

As huge fans and heavy users of LinkedIn, we utilise it’s various features a lot. One of these is groups. We have, in fact, createwd a number of our own groups, in areas we felt were underserviced on the site. Here they are, feel free to join in to anything you feel is suitable of of interest:

Medical Affairs Ireland Network Specific group for Medical Advisors, Medical Science Liaisons (MSLs), Scientific Advisors and people seeking to enter this exciting area. A PhD / MSc or Medical qualification is required in most instances.

Connected Health Ireland for (Healthcare) IT professionals and IT people interested in the H.I.T. / Connected Health area. One we feel is poised for growth in coming years.

MedicalDevice.ie Network – for the thriving Medical Device Industry in Ireland

Formulation Scientists Ireland

As it happens we are seeking 2 people to join the Life Science team internally. Feel free to contact us if you are interested or know someone who might be. We offer a vibrant, exciting work environment and genuinely challenging, yet rewarding, work:

Snr IT Recruitment Consultant
Graduate Recruitment Consultant – Science / Pharma

- Brian (brian.c at lifescience.ie)

As we are seeing an upturn in the requirement for excellent Quality staff, we thought it’d be interesting to collate the course that can lead to the QP or “Qualifed Person” status in Ireland.

Trinity College, Dublin (TCD) – MSc / Postgrad Diploma in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Technology

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) – MSc in Industrial Pharmaceutical Technology

IT Sligo – MSc in Industrial Pharmaceutical Technology

Edit – there’s University College, Cork (UCC) also – Masters in Pharmaceutical Technology and Quality Systems

To our knowledge these are the 4 currently on offer. Most are run on a 2 year part-time basis, where attendance is required a number of times per semester. They are semi-distance learning, so to speak. The requirements for these courses are generally just a scientific degree plus 2+ years of Quality experience in a regulated industry. They are a great way to kick-start your career if the support network within your current employer exists.

For relevant quality opportunities, check out our QualityAssurance.ie site.

Comments or questions? – Brian (brian.c at lifescience.ie)

This month there seems to be a huge focus on the Commercial side of things according to recent jobs.

Sales Agent – previous experience selling instrumentation essential

Territory Sales Specialist – seeking a histologist / histopathologist for this one.

I’m also seeking an IT Engineer with CCNA, MCP certification with web and Linux experience – Product Support and Implementation Engineer

Stephen is looking for an EHS-Engineer for his Pharmaceutical client in Dublin

And also a  Production Support Engineer for an electronics company in Dublin

James has some very specific Medical Device roles as usual. There is also a B2B Sales Manager position in the pipeline for an American company. B2B experience in Medical Devices is key.

Production supervisor for a multinational in Galway

Quality Engineer for a start up in Athlone

Operations Engineer in a start up in Galway

Outside of the office we’re looking forward to the heat wave which is due to hit at the end of the week. 24 degrees – YE S PLEASE! It’s also the start of festival season, some good events planned around Dublin city so get out there and enjoy them. Although there’s no more football of much significance for the Summer, that performance by Barcelona on Saturday will live long in the memory. A great report from the Guardian is here

- Brian

Tweet

The full directory is here (Click into post to see working link):

Lifescience Directory

- Brian (brian dot c at lifescience.ie)

Currently we have a number of junior sales roles across Ireland:

Account Exec – Limerick

Jnr Product Specialist – Dublin to Galway and north territory

Sales Exec – Dublin. Some international travel involved.

All roles involve science and are customer-facing. So why would someone choose a career in Scientific-sales over one on the bench? There are many advantages, but mainly it boils down to the person themselves. It’s the same reason myself and my colleagues chose careers in recruitment over ones in Science, as we are all qualified Scientists. We enjoy dealing with people.
Of course it’s important to be a product expert in whatever area you are selling into (the same applies to recruitment). In essence though, you need to be personable, have fun when dealing with people and be a good listener. Find out what they are looking for and be creative in trying to create a solution for them.

Salaries are generally better with these roles than corresponding junior roles at the bench. All of these positions start at min €30k + packages and potential commission. There is also a lot of potential, as all are relatively small companies where these junior sales / business devleopment people can grow with the company. Ideally candidates will have demonstrated previous customer service, be that work experience while in college, volunteering with various organisations or something similar. Technical aptitude is a must, and enthusiasm is essential.

For more on any of this, give Brian a call on +353 1 6854747 or email [brian dot c at lifescience dot ie]

Recruitment within the pharmaceutical sector has been quite stable over the last 12 months, with losses in certain departments, offset by gains in others. The pharmaceutical sector in Ireland seems to have been quasi-resistant to prevailing economic conditions, primarily due to the fact that product pipeline cycles within the sector can last between 12 – 20 years, so any intermittent instability in the financial markets have little, if any, effect on ongoing projects.

Areas such as quality within the manufacturing arms of the sector have suffered due to an oversupply of staff, combined with the shelving of many new initiatives, while areas such as corporate quality, medical affairs and sales and marketing have blossomed. Companies are placing greater emphasis on service, delivery and education regarding their products in the field.

Recent Job Losses
The main focus of job losses in the past 18 months within the pharmaceutical sector have been as a result of the numerous mergers and acquisitions that have occurred. Schering Plough and Merck merged their operations; the consequent consultation and restructuring process lead to the announcement of the winding down of operations at Schering Plough Bray. The Bray plant manufactures veterinary pharmaceuticals and 240 jobs are expected to be lost over a staggered two year period continuing into next year. Pfizer also merged with Wyeth in 2009 to create the single largest global pharmaceutical entity; however the impact of this merger has yet to be fully felt here in Ireland yet.

Plans for Expansion within the Industry
A recent announcement in the press intonated the plans by Pharmadel, in conjunction with the IDA to create a global pharmaceutical centre of excellence in Tralee, with the potential creation of over 4000 jobs. Plans are underway to make this a reality and if they come to fruition, this feat will secure Ireland’s place in the international league tables as a leader in the provision of both manufacturing and professional services for the pharmaceutical sector globally.

Recent Trends
Many companies have adapted their recruitment processes over the last year to refocus efforts on improving their direct recruitment strategy for entry-level and high volume staff. Traditionally, recruitment of specialist and senior level staff within the pharmaceutical sector has been quite difficult and recent trends observed here at lifescience.ie indicate that employers will continue to use niche and specialist agencies to source and engage these elusive high-level staff, whilst adopting new direct strategies including social media and web 2.0 technologies to improve direct resourcing strategies for high volume and easier to find staff.

Salary Variance
Salaries within the sector are quite variable at the moment, with manufacturing and quality stabilising or deflating slightly, while salaries within the corporate, medical affairs, regulatory, sales and marketing areas staying stable or inflating very slightly.

Skills in Demand
The main skill-sets in demand at the moment are within commercial and medical affairs. These departments form part of the corporate function of the pharmaceutical company and deal with sales and marketing (commercial) and regulatory, medical information, medical liaison, pharmacovigilance and clinical research (medical). There has been a definite move to strengthen these departments over the last two years by the major players in the industry, to consolidate market share in the face of increased competition and to increase the level of education of key opinion leaders in the field, enhancing reputation and brand awareness.

Recruitment Expectations
In general, I expect recent trends of increased activity to continue well into next year with companies consolidating and streamlining manufacturing operations, strengthening their sales and marketing force, while further developing their medical affairs departments. Salaries will stabilise within manufacturing operations where there is an oversupply and may inflate slightly in medical and commercial where the specific skills-sets and experiential requirements are more in demand.

I’m looking for a PhD / MSc with expert knowledge of DNA Sequencing / Genomics for a national sales role. An exciting opportunity for an ambitious junior candidate.

There’s also a Sales Manager for a Lab Instrumentation company. Previous experience in this area is essential.

We have 2 x QC Analyst contracts for North Dublin, 1 for someone with analytical documentation experience and the other with Raw Materials Analysis experience. Available ASAP

James is looking for a R&D Director with an exciting new start-up in the West. Suit an hands-on technical manager. Also a Clinical Orthopaedic Specialist for Munster candidate.

Eamonn is just back from a trip to the Scottish Highlands and we’ve landed him with a pile of work to get straight back into things! Some of his vacancies are:
Diabetes Nurse (Munster / Connaught based, must have a Diabetes GDip / postgrad qualification)
Medical Advisor – Dublin

In other news, it’s rainy and cold, but that also means rainbows, like this one taken by Gab outside our office. James is preparing for his white-collar boxing final and I’m starting training for the Barcelona marathon after this month’s activities in Massachusetts (Half Marathon) and Dublin (paced the 4hr marathon group in glorious autumn sunshine).

-Brian (bhcATlifescienceDOTie)

We’ve all been writing web-content in our sleep, with the result that there are many new sites live and would really appreciate you taking the time to look through and them and mot importantly…LET US KNOW YOUR THOUGHTS.

Connected Health.ie: the first recruitment site in Ireland focussed towards this growing area of the economy. A recent conference highlighted this, at which Eamonn and Brian were proud sponsors and advertisers. Brian’s LinkedIn group is almost at 50 members, please do join up if you’re active in this area.

Pharmaceutical.ie – has just been relaunched, we think its a lot more relevant and useful, with career profiles and industry advice in different sub-areas of the Pharmaceutical industry.

Biotechnology.ie – were quite proud of picking up this domain name when we did! The site is colourful, functional and will constantly evoloving according to Client and Candidate demands as things progress, like all of our sites. FYI Mr Conor Lenihan, evolution DOES exist!!!

MedicalDevice.ie – James is delighted to launch this, he also created a LinkedIn group to support it. The site is getting a lot of traffic as it’s one area of the economy as whole which seems to be gathering some momentum.

Eamonn was featured in the Sunday Business Post this week – the link is here. Apologies for the SBP site link, it’s not great, is it?!

We’ll be launching and re-launching some more sites in the next 2 weeks, announcements will be made here and on Twitter / Facebook as we go along. Outside of these announcements we’ve all had a great Summers, even though we’re not really looking forward to finishing work when it’s dark in the evenings!

As always we’re delighted to hear your feedback on the sites, particularly the new ones above.

-Brian (bhc at lifescience dot ie)