Peter, who has a PhD in Chemistry, joined the site in 2000 as a development chemist and has held numerous roles over the past 24 years, including head of the research and development pilot plant and site lead for project management.

In this Q&A interview, Peter outlines why chemists and analysts working with Thermo Fisher Scientific’s PDS team find their work so fulfilling.

What types of skills are you looking to recruit?

Our Process Development Services team is expert in taking chemistry from laboratory scale development through to clinical and large-scale commercial manufacturing. To do that we need a wide range of expertise in chemistry — development chemists, process chemists, analytical chemists, and we hire at all levels, recent graduates, PhDs, and people with decades of experience.

As well as the technical capabilities, we also look for team players and problem solvers. Team players because this is collaborative work, brainstorming new synthetic routes, developing chemistry processes and analytical methods together in the laboratories, but also we partner with colleagues in other departments on site, e.g. engineering, operations, quality, it takes a huge range of skills to make a medicine reliably and safely. Problem solvers because we are working on early-stage science and it isn’t always predictable, often we encounter issues as we scale customer programmes and have to find innovative solutions. 

Also, because we are a contract development and manufacturing organisation, our team is customer-facing, so having good communications skills is a real advantage. Of course, a passion for science and sharing our mission to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer, really helps.

We’re lucky here in Ireland, and in Cork in particular, to have so many colleges delivering excellent under-graduate and post-graduate chemistry and analytical programmes, and producing really high calibre graduates. This pipeline of talent is critical to our success, and we’re committed to partnering with the colleges to nurture the next generation of chemists and analysts, whether this is through student placements, under-graduate prizes and supporting PhD research.

Why do the teams you've been working with find this work so fulfilling?

I think there are two main reasons  — the variety of the work and the impact we’re having on patients’ lives.

The work we do is really exciting and is making a real difference to people’s lives. Our chemists and analysts are developing and optimising novel chemistries. They get to apply their development expertise to help customers synthesize their chemistry, make it reliable and robust so it can be scaled to support clinical trials and ultimately to commercial manufacture. Our team of analytical chemists develop new methods for testing of the products we manufacture and some of these are very unique and use the most advanced technology available. They get a chance to flex their scientific muscles every step of the way. 

We partner with more than 20 customers, a mix of large multinationals and small biotech companies, meaning they get to work get to work on several of them in parallel. As well as the opportunity that brings to develop and expand technical skills, our analytical chemists also get to interact with customers on a day-to-day basis and that experience is quite unique. That’s a breadth of experience that you don’t get everywhere.

Ultimately, we are developing this chemistry for patients, and that’s the most fulfilling part of the job. We’re working on a huge range of medicines, novel medicines to treat rare disease and life-changing medicines to treat common conditions. Seeing the chemistry we have worked on progress through clinical trials and through approval to be a treatment option for hundreds, thousands, and even millions of patients is the ultimate reward.

What is the role of Thermo Fisher's Cork campus within an active pharmaceutical ingredient development and manufacturing site?

As an active pharmaceutical ingredient development and manufacturing site, the Cork campus is part of the Thermo Fisher Pharma Services business. This means that the team is expert in taking process chemistry and analytical development from laboratory scale through to clinical and large-scale commercial manufacturing. We have significantly expanded the drug development capability at the Cork site in recent years. 

In 2023, we opened an expanded laboratory in Cork, effectively doubling the capacity that customers can access to develop medicines for cancer, lupus, diabetes, and psoriasis, among other illnesses. The expanded Scale-Up Laboratory was the latest aspect of expansion at the company’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) facility since 2019. We have ambitious plans to expand the facilities and people capacity at our campus over the next 5 to 10 years in line with the growing demand from our customers and we will be looking to recruit top level scientists to work on these projects.

What has been your own experience of working in this rewarding environment over the past 24 years?

In a broader sense, when I look around at the team that has been built and continues to expand, I can see that I am surrounded by people who genuinely love their science and to solve problems. Be that in life sciences research, complex analytical challenges, or the development and manufacture of life-changing therapies, we’ve built a team that are skilled in their industry and naturally curious. That is a rare combination and I find it incredibly rewarding that we have built that here.

Personally, I have been very lucky over the years to have had many great people managers who supported my development and who gave me the confidence to achieve my career goals. Leading a team of chemists and analysts is a very responsible job but it’s an extremely satisfying role when our customers provide feedback on the fantastic technical expertise and knowledge and how they take personal ownership for the development of their medicine — receiving this feedback is the most rewarding aspect of my job.