Scientist Snapshot | Sara Jenkins, ADC Commercial Manager

Sara joined the Sterling team in March 2021 as ADC Commercial Manager to support customers in the early research and development stages of their antibody drug conjugate project.

Can you please describe your education/background? 

I have a BSc in chemistry from the University of Central Lancashire and a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Liverpool. I’ve worked within the pharmaceutical industry for 30 years, mainly in contract research organisations (CROs), taking on roles within organic chemistry, small molecules and linker payload synthesis, gaining a lot of experience as a team leader through these roles.

I joined ADC Biotechnology in 2012 and during my time there, was responsible for setting up the linker payload laboratory and managing a small team of chemists, supplying linker payloads to customers and supporting the bioconjugation team. I briefly left to move to the north east, and then when the site was acquired by Sterling in 2021, I rejoined to provide antibody drug conjugate (ADC) specific support from its headquarters in Cramlington, UK. This was a great opportunity to still be involved with the team at the Deeside, Wales facility, retaining the technical side of my role whilst also moving into a more commercial role.

What does your role entail?

There are several different aspects to the role – from a technical perspective, I provide linker payload support to the Deeside, Wales and Wisconsin, US facilities. I am responsible for some of the linker design we do for our customers, and I find this all incredibly interesting and stimulating.

ADCs are such a rapidly growing field, there is a lot of development and evolution within the industry, and so it’s important to stay on top of linker payload chemistry, payload chemistry and bioconjugation. I get to be very academic and cerebral within my role, keeping up with the literature, and sharing my findings with the Sterling team and applying it within customer projects, which is something that I really enjoy.

The other aspects of my role include helping to attract new customers to the business, and supporting customers who are in the early research and development stages of their ADC project. Often, customers come to us with minimal knowledge about ADCs at this early stage, and I’m keen to provide the education and support which helps to develop long standing partnerships, and as a result, see those projects graduate and move into the manufacturing phase.  It’s always so rewarding, especially as a scientist, knowing that you have made a positive contribution towards a customer’s success.

How do you go about understanding a customer’s business needs before proposing solutions?

For me, it’s through communication. It starts within those initial meetings where we get to sit with the customer and chat through their project and requirements. We tend to discuss the ADC’s characteristics, which is what then enables us to propose an effective ADC development or manufacturing solution or put together a structure for their linker payload. In addition to communication, it’s important to develop the solutions together. Being able to propose an effective solution is very much a result of collaboration and establishing a true partnership with our customers.

What role does collaboration play in your approach to business development?

Collaboration is our whole approach, not only with our customers, but also with the experts from across our global network of facilities.

From a customer perspective, it’s important to be  responsive and flexible in terms of the support we offer. We’re passionate about what we do, we enjoy it, and we find it exciting, so this all comes easily to me and the team. Spending time with our customers to align our priorities, goals and objectives is vital to ensuring an effective partnership is attained.

In terms of collaboration across the Sterling network, ADCs have so many different components to them, and so collaboration is necessary to bring our sites together to successfully build a solution and deliver our customers’ ADC projects. This cross-site collaboration is nurtured in several ways. For example, I have visited our Wisconsin facility to help develop their offering and support customer projects; I was involved in establishing the original integrated offering between our sites to ensure we can provide customers with linker payloads in addition to the bioconjugation services they need, from one united CDMO partner. I also often work from our Deeside facility, building on my existing relationships from my 10+ year career at the site, and meet with colleagues who are visiting the facility from our Wisconsin site to further support our integrated offering.

What do you like most about working at Sterling?

Being involved in a cutting-edge scientific field is definitely the part I like most about working at Sterling. I can make a difference at that early stage for customers, and in the end, for patients around the world.

I also enjoy having the opportunity to still be quite academic, and having access to lots of information through events, databases, journals and other literature, but overall, it’s that every day is different. I get to wear lots of different hats, and so it never gets boring.