Scientist snapshot | Matt Miklas, Associate Director of Technical Services

Can you briefly describe your background and current role at Sterling?

I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received my degree in Chemical Engineering. Shortly after graduation, I started at Cambridge Major Laboratories, which is now Sterling’s Wisconsin, US site. I initially started as a Process Engineer, at a time when the site was building additional expertise in scale-up and commercialisation to complement its strong chemistry competencies for greater project continuity. Another one of my early focuses was redefining the site’s process and cleaning validation procedures to align with the evolving regulatory requirements.

Early on, I became really interested in how the three areas we consider part of our development organisation—engineering, chemistry, and analytical—work together to ensure right first-time manufacturing. In 2018, I started in a Technical Manager role, developing the ways in which team members from across various departments work together in a more integrated way to support our customers’ projects. In July 2025, I moved into the role of Associate Director of Technical Services, with a lot of my time dedicated to identifying and implementing new technologies, as well as supporting our global Extended Bench^TM model, which provides customers flexible access to our global network of scientists, facilities and capabilities, when and where they need it.

What does a typical day look like in your role as Associate Director of Technical Services?

A typical day for me mostly involves collaboration with our customers and internal project teams to align on strategic priorities, troubleshoot processes, and ensure that our teams and projects have the resources they need.

I am often involved with our customers from early on in their project, discussing specific technical needs with them, and helping to build out our proposal. I am also part of regular internal technical meetings, where our global teams present technical achievements or look to collaborate with our wider network of experts to overcome challenges, together.

I also work regularly in partnership with our technical experts to identify emerging technologies which will help to further support and benefit our customers’ projects and keep us at the forefront of innovation. I then work in collaboration with our sites across the network to establish where these technologies or services would be best placed, based on capacity and capabilities, whether that’s at Wisconsin or another of our global facilities.

Sterling’s Wisconsin, US facility specialises in high potency manufacturing, handling down to less than 1ng/m³ containment, as well as purification technologies, primarily used in highly potent projects, including high and low pressure chromatography, and lyopholisation. We have lots of experience in continuous manufacturing, too. In. my role, I ensure that we build the capabilities (in terms of people and equipment) and internal expertise to be able to properly scale-up projects with these unique requirements.

What are some goals you have moving forward within your role?

As mentioned previously, I have done a lot of work to support our Extended Bench™ model as it grows in popularity among our customers. This has involved fostering collaboration and growing partnerships across our global teams, and making sure that we are leveraging the resources that make the most sense for each project. I am focused on continuing to make sure this model is as effective and beneficial for our customers as possible, which includes building our technical teams and continuously developing their skills, as well as identifying new technologies that we can adopt to help improve customer processes.

At the Wisconsin site, our priority is to continue building out our capabilities for high throughput experimentation, given our customers’ ever-growing desire to gain more data about their processes and products. We continue to build out our expertise in high potency, ultra-high potency APIs and linker payload technologies too.

Why do you think a customer chooses to work with Sterling?

In my opinion, it’s a combination of the range of technologies and capabilities that we can offer across our global network and the partnership that we deliver. Our customers frequently feedback that it’s the way that we truly collaborate with them that sets us apart.

What is your favourite thing about working at Sterling?

I’ve always said that my favourite thing about working at Sterling is the variety of the projects, technologies, and people we get to work with – both internally and externally. I get to see everything from early preclinical to commercial projects, each with their own unique scientific challenges. Getting to see and experience so many technologies and projects over my career is what keeps it interesting.