By Marc Hummersone, Chief Scientific Officer

I’ve always been fascinated by the point where science stops being an idea and becomes something that can solve a real-world problem.

Today, as Chief Scientific Officer for Biotage and Astrea Bioseparations, I lead global R&D, product development, innovation and IP strategy. But at the heart of my role is something relatively simple: helping talented people turn good ideas into successful products.

Purification is a particularly interesting place to do that - it sits at the intersection of biology, chemistry, engineering and process development, and seemingly small changes can have a profound impact on process efficiency and product quality.

If someone outside the industry asks what I do, I usually say that I work on technologies that help separate valuable molecules from everything else. Whether it’s making medicines, developing diagnostics or supporting scientific research, purification is often the step that makes the difference between something that works and something that doesn’t.

Seeing where science can lead

That desire to translate science into something meaningful has been shaped by experiences throughout my career.

One I’m particularly proud of was being part of the team that helped validate the concept of synthetic lethality and contributed to the discovery and development of Lynparza® (olaparib), the first approved PARP inhibitor. Today, it is used to treat several difficult-to-treat cancers, including ovarian, breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers associated with BRCA and other DNA repair gene mutations.

Knowing that work I was involved in more than two decades ago has translated into a medicine that continues to benefit patients around the world is incredibly rewarding. It gave me a real sense that I was contributing something back to society through science.

There is a personal connection for me too, as members of my own family have been affected by BRCA-mutated cancers, so I have seen first-hand the impact these diseases can have on patients and the people around them. That experience has given me an even greater appreciation of what scientific innovation can mean when it ultimately reaches the patients who need it.

It’s a perspective I’ve carried with me throughout my career - whatever technology we’re developing, there is a much bigger reason for getting the science right and finding a way to translate a promising idea into something that works in the real world.

Looking beyond the technical solution

No two days in my role look quite the same. I work with scientists, engineers, product managers, commercial teams, external partners and leadership teams. One moment I might be discussing a new purification resin or nanofiber technology, and the next I could be reviewing strategy, intellectual property, manufacturing scale-up plans or investment priorities. That variety reflects something I’ve come to appreciate more as my career has progressed: developing a successful purification technology requires you to think beyond the technical solution itself.

Earlier in my career, that was where much of my attention went, but over time, I’ve learned to look at the broader system around the science too: manufacturability, cost, supply chains, customer needs and commercial viability. A good scientific idea is an important starting point but turning it into something that works reliably in the real world is a very different challenge.

Knowing when to challenge traditional approaches

One of the recurring lessons throughout my career has been that purification challenges don’t stand still.

As the products we work with become larger, more complex and more delicate, the challenges associated with purifying them change too. Working on technologies such as nanofiber-based purification platforms and advanced bioprocessing tools has reinforced for me the importance of challenging traditional assumptions.

Existing technologies can be incredibly effective, but there are times when they begin to reach their limits – and when that happens, the answer isn’t necessarily to keep making incremental changes to the same approach. Sometimes you need to step back and ask whether there is a fundamentally different way to solve the problem.

That willingness to question established approaches is particularly important as we tackle the challenges associated with emerging areas such as cell and gene therapy. These are genuinely difficult problems and solving them is one of the things that keeps me curious.

What works in the lab has to work in the real world

Many purification problems can look relatively straightforward on paper, the reality is often very different. It can be relatively easy to demonstrate an idea in a laboratory however achieving the same performance reliably at manufacturing scale is a much bigger challenge. Often, the hardest part is understanding the constraints that weren’t obvious at the beginning of a project.

That experience has changed the way I think about what constitutes a successful result. For me, one of the things that matters most in real-world applications is reproducibility. An impressive result achieved once is interesting, but a result that can be repeated reliably by customers, every day and at scale, is what creates real value.

It’s also why understanding the process matters just as much as understanding the technology. Protocols can tell you what should happen, the real progress often comes from understanding why something isn’t behaving as expected.

Thinking about purification earlier

One misconception I still encounter is that purification is simply a downstream activity. When, in reality, purification requirements can influence decisions throughout development, so the sooner you start thinking about purification, the more likely you are to develop a process that is efficient and scalable.

It comes back to looking at the complete process rather than one technology or individual step in isolation. A purification solution can perform extremely well technically, but if it becomes difficult to manufacture, scale or reproduce, that performance alone isn’t enough.

Thinking about those realities early helps us develop technologies that don’t just produce promising results in development but can ultimately deliver value when customers need to use them.

The best solutions come from different perspectives

Of course, none of this happens in isolation - I work closely with scientists, engineers, manufacturing teams, product managers, commercial colleagues and external partners. Each brings a different perspective to the problem, and I’ve found that the best outcomes usually emerge when those perspectives are combined.

The strongest projects create a shared sense of ownership where everyone understands the problem we’re trying to solve and why it matters. When that happens, individual disciplines stop operating in isolation and start acting as one team. That becomes particularly important when things are moving quickly or a project is under pressure. In those situations, good collaboration relies on open communication, rapid decision-making and a willingness to focus on facts rather than opinions. Above all, it relies on trust.

The science behind next-generation purification technologies is exciting, but seeing talented scientists and engineers come together to tackle genuinely difficult problems is what makes me particularly proud of the work our teams are doing.

Staying curious

What I find most rewarding is seeing an idea become reality. There is something incredibly satisfying about taking an early concept and watching it develop into a product that solves a real customer problem. Knowing those solutions can ultimately benefit patients makes that even more meaningful.

And there is always another problem to solve! Science and technology continue to evolve, customer and patient needs evolve with them. For me, that means there is always an opportunity to learn something new, question an assumption or look at a familiar challenge differently.

If I could give one piece of advice to someone starting out in this field, it would be to stay curious and never assume you know the full answer. Some of the most important lessons can come from unexpected results and apparent failures.

Successful purification technologies are rarely the result of one brilliant idea - more often, they come from many people contributing their expertise over several years, learning as they go and continuing to improve. For me, that combination of curiosity, collaboration and problem-solving is what makes working in purification so rewarding.