Lauren is Manufacturing Engineer at Agilent, an analytical instrumentation development and manufacturing company with a site in Newport, DE. Her work helps create the tests that check for important information in pharmaceutical drugs, like potency and purity. A graduate of the University of Delaware, Lauren loves her role at Agilent and is excited about Delaware’s future prospects, adding, “We’re growing, always learning new things, and optimizing our processes as we get more people on board. I love being here in Delaware, and it’s a privilege contributing to this exciting and innovative industry.”

Brendan is the founder of Ballydel Technologies, an innovative local company creating groundbreaking anti-counterfeit products in addition to other work in the pharmaceutical, defense, and energy sectors. Ballydel’s technology can help protect items like vaccine vials and biologic containers so that adulterated, substandard, or dangerous counterfeit products don’t make their way to patients. “I think Delaware has an excellent ecosystem for entrepreneurs,” Brendan said. “They are extremely supportive of technology development, job creation, and providing the training for learning how to procure funding.”

Ray is the CEO of ANP Technologies, a Delaware-based company that quickly ramped up their rapid test development and manufacturing capabilities to meet the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic. Supplying and processing COVID-19 tests to the local community and beyond, Ray’s team had to grow to keep up with the ever-changing environment. “There are plenty of extremely well-qualified people in this area, because of the large scientific community and the universities, but there were also so many people who just wanted to help,” he said.

As an investigator at AstraZeneca, Jessica is responsible for helping ensure that the company’s product manufacturing processes are moving as efficiently as possible and maintaining the highest quality standards. AstraZeneca’s manufacturing plant in Delaware is one of few “end-to-end” sites, meaning they begin their work with raw materials, manufacture their own medicines, and distribute the completed, packaged goods. Jessica is appreciative of the local talent in Delaware, saying, “the wonderful thing about this location is there are plenty of job opportunities, and all this local talent helps streamline our processes so we can get products sent out to patients even quicker. It’s always about making sure we’re doing everything we can to deliver better medicines to patients.”

Wesley is a quality control chemist at AstraZeneca. He conducts analytical testing to ensure that medicines are labeled and marketed correctly, which includes checking for appropriate doses of active ingredients and confirming that no impurities are present in the products. “I grew up in this area,” he said, “and Delaware was always viewed as an incredibly advanced state when it came to business and business support. All the high-end biosciences and attractive jobs certainly help fuel our local economy, but the most rewarding thing is that I know I’m contributing to the creation of life-saving medicines.”

Kate has been with Adesis in the analytical department for 14 years. Despite Delaware’s long reputation of a thriving biosciences sector, she says the spirit of innovation here continues to foster a dynamic community, with many new start-ups finding their homes here over the years. “All areas of science are well-supported in Delaware, so it’s an inviting place to be, both literally and in terms of starting a business,” Kate said.

As a senior synthetic chemist at Adesis, Sophie is proud of her work that helps accelerate the development of important medicines. “Not only can I help my clients solve complex problems, but it's an opportunity for me to actually help make a difference in people's lives through pharmaceutical medicines and technologies,” she said. Sophie is no stranger to the many people involved in developing medicines according to the highest FDA standards and certifications. “There are so many people behind the scenes, and even in the five years I have been here, it has grown dramatically, so I can definitely see that trend continuing for Delaware. It’s a great place to do this kind of work.”