Scientist Snapshot | Alex Tretyakov, Senior Technical Fellow (CR&D)

Alex joined Sterling’s Wisconsin, US facility in October 2023 as Senior Technical Fellow (CR&D). In his role, Alex works closely with scientists, offering technical support and fostering collaboration between teams.

Can you briefly describe your background and current role as Senior CR&D Fellow at Sterling?

I graduated with my degree in Organic Chemistry in 1984 and in 1995 got my PhD in the synthesis of C2 symmetrical organometallic catalysis from the University of Oklahoma.

I began my career at Cambridge Major Laboratories on the bench at what is now Sterling’s Wisconsin, US site. I progressed through various managerial positions at the site and within other CROs and CDMOs, primarily involved in the process development of small molecule active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Prior to returning to work at the Wisconsin site, I spent five years at Millipore Sigma working primarily with linker payloads.

When I came back to the Wisconsin site, and began working for Sterling, I took on the unique position of Senior Technical Fellow (CR&D) which allows me to put to use knowledge of the synthetic organic chemistry and expertise in practical process development gathered during my work in this field.  In this role, I work closely with our scientists, fostering collaboration between teams across our global network; offering technical support and acting as someone they can go to for help, whether they’re developing a new idea or troubleshooting a solution to a challenge. CDMOs, by their very nature, are very busy and work to tight deadlines, so I enjoy being the person that helps our teams remember the joy of chemistry; inspiring them and being the person that I always wanted to be able to rely on when I was in the labs.

I meet regularly with our research and development (R&D) site heads, as well as our Global R&D Director and Chief Scientific Officer to explore emerging technologies and how we might apply them within our customers’ projects to create efficiencies. We work closely across the network to share technical knowledge, team achievements, interesting developments and exchange ideas to help support our customers’ projects, and I frequently collaborate with our project managers and technical leads to support development activities.

I am also involved with proposal evaluations and initial conversations with our customers, and once their projects have progressed within Sterling, often go on to work with customers’ scientific teams to share ideas to help optimise their processes.  Developing trust and creating rapport with clients help our teams to succeed addressing challenging chemistry and other issues. Many clients appreciate this type of collaboration and are open to the possibility of placing more projects us.

Can you talk a little more specifically about your work with linker payloads at Sterling’s Wisconsin, US site?

In support of our antibody drug conjugate (ADC) capabilities at our dedicated bioconjugation facility in Deeside, Wales, we offer proof of concept and small-scale linker payload development and manufacturing services from our Wisconsin, US facility. This is one of my key focuses, and it is my responsibility to help oversee our linker payload projects’ progress.

Our Wisconsin facility houses two specialist high potency suites, and our team possesses a great deal of high potency API (HPAPI) and linker payload knowledge, which enables us to support our ADC customers with an integrated service offering, all from within one global CDMO, which supports a more seamless transfer of elements of the project between sites. Our range of specialist equipment and capabilities include prep HPLCs, flexible and hard walled isolators, containment down to less than 1ng per cubic metres and fixed Hastelloy reactors, and all employees are trained in high potency handling to ensure safe operations, from maintenance to production.

We are continuously working on expanding our high potency capabilities,  purchasing new equipment, training more personnel in conducting more high potency work in R&D and GMP manufacturing environment.

How do you effectively collaborate with customers?

Gaining a customer’s trust is key, as well as demonstrating that we care about their project as much as they do. Proposing new solutions to the existing manufacturing process problems, saving manufacture time, money, and ensuring that the chemical transformations taken into production are robust and can deliver the desired product within specifications.

Making the compound is just one piece of the puzzle, and the value we bring to our customers is in the ideas that we develop alongside them – the way we think outside of the box to support them, and our understanding of the pressures they face, as a result of our experience.

Our customers benefit from direct access to our global experts, especially through our Extended Bench^TM model, which fosters true collaboration between teams. It enables our customers to ask our experts direct questions, and work together to troubleshoot and develop ideas.  The fact that we have such strong, and often unique, expertise in-house only strengthens our ability to partner so effectively with our customers. From a high potency perspective for example, we have a Certified Toxicologist and Industrial Hygienist based at our Wisconsin site, which means that our customers can more quickly develop containment and safety strategies for the safe handling of their highly potent projects, mitigating the time constraints associated with CDMOs typically outsourcing this requirement.

What is your favourite thing about working at Sterling?

It’s working with great people. You know that you’re valued, and this drives you to continue coming up with more creative solutions to whatever we’re facing.