Nordic Life Science 1
92 “THE BEST PART OF THE JOB IS THE VARIABILITY A
ND THAT NO TWO DAYS ARE THE SAME. I ALSO VERY MUCH LIKE THE CREATIVE ASPECT OF WORKING IN SCIENCE, THAT IT REQUIRES CREATIVE THINKING TO SOLVE NOVEL QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS.” – HARALDUR THORSTEINSSON “In my job I do various things, from managing day to day lab work and fish care to scientific work like study design, data analysis and writing. This, combined with marketing and communicating with clients, grant writing, etc., makes it a very multi-faceted job,” he says. The company consists of a very tight knit group of technicians and project managers, each of whom is responsible for a specific project. “Each week we hold meetings where we go over the status of projects and convene to decide the best way forward. We have a very collaborative team spirit and help each other out on any aspects where needed,” says Haraldur. “The best part of the job is the variability and that no two days are the same,” he states. “I also very much like the creative aspect of working in science, that it requires creative thinking to solve novel questions and problems. However, working in science can also be frustrating when there is a need to navigate unexpected results and control unexpected variability in datasets,” he adds. A typical day at work starts at home by going through to the company. Advantages include speed and a costeffectiveness that is similar to cell-based assays, with high accuracy and scalability. “Our advantage lies in our highly specialized drug discovery engine for CNS drugs. The problem we are solving/adressing is the high unmet need for new therapeutics in the CNS field,” says Haraldur. Facilitated by the zebrafish in vivo screening technology, the company focuses on the development of repurposed small molecule drugs targeting neurological indications. Drug repurposing is a drug development strategy predicated on the reuse of existing licensed drugs for new medical indications. The company’s pipeline currently consists of four project in drug development and pre-clinical stages, targeting Parkinson’s, Schizoprenia, ADHD and EDS. Haraldur’s job title is co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), but since the company is relatively small he and his colleagues are required to take on many different roles. 92 NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG emails, he says. “Then I would go to the lab and continue with the projects at hand. Those could include designing our next screens, preparing a conference, proof-reading a paper, etc. Right now we are designing and preparing rodent assays for our lead compounds in ADHD.” Being a small company of course makes you vulnerable when a pandemic occurs, and during the COVID19 pandemic the company had to close down the lab on at least one occasion due to staff quarantine, says Haraldur. “Also online conferences are a new reality for us,” Haraldur adds. eing located in Iceland means having access to a strong medical science sector spurred by strong medical university faculties and private companies, such as deCODE and Alvotech, according to Haraldur. “We have strong expertise in genetics and generics.” In his job, genetics developments are transforming the field, and he needs to stay updated on recent developments in genetic disease modeling, for example. NLS