Beyond the Boundary: Senior Scientist of Genscript Ushers in Opportunities and Challenges in Scientific Exploration

Hengtai, a senior scientist at GenScript’s Singapore site, starts his day at 5:30 a.m. on weekdays. He leaves his home in Malaysia, crosses the busy Malaysia-Singapore border, and travels south through Singapore to reach GenScript’s Asia-Pacific Headquarters, ready for a full and busy day.

Hengtai, senior scientist of GenScript Singapore Site, opened his sleepy eyes and got up at 5:30 a.m. on weekdays. After half an hour’s washing and dressing up, he left his home in Malaysia, took a bus between Malaysia and Singapore, crossed the crowded Singapore-Malaysia port, and then crossed Singapore from north to south to arrive at the office of GenScript Asia-Pacific Headquarters, starting a full and busy day.

The bus must pass through Singapore-Malaysia Sea-crossing Great Bridge. In case of serious traffic jam, Hengtai gets off the bus without hesitation and chooses to walk directly over the bridge to the port.

Recalling the original choice, Hengtai shared an important decision he made: “I felt conflicted in a few months before my doctoral graduation. I am not sure whether to accept my tutor’s offer to continue my study in academia, or accept GenScript’s offer and directly start working.” In the end, he chose GenScript and thought it was a challenging opportunity.

In the face of offers from other enterprises, Hengtai firmly chose GenScript, as he came into contact with GenScript’s products and services during his PhD study. “I really approve of GenScript and think it is a stage where I can show my abilities.” He said.

First arrival in Nanjing

When Hengtai joined the company, GenScript Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Singapore was still under construction. Therefore, he had to work in Nanjing. It is exciting and challenging for him, who was educated in Australia and Singapore, to go to China for the first time.

“After arriving in Nanjing, I found that some situations and environmental conditions were not quite the same as expected, which made me feel a relatively big impact. Going to Nanjing was my first visit to China, so I was looking forward to it. Before that, I have seen some Chinese variety shows, and I am very interested in many places in China,” Hengtai said. After he really came to Nanjing, he deeply felt the combination of urban modernization and cultural heritage. “Nanjing has not only become more modern and advanced, but also retained a lot of cultural heritage, which is a great combination.”

During his work in GenScript Nanjing, Hengtai directly connected with customers, deeply understood their needs and helped to develop complex solutions. After work, he tasted a lot of Nanjing cuisine and appreciated the local beautiful scenery.

Return to Singapore

With the recognition of leaders and colleagues, Hengtai was transferred back to Singapore after working in Nanjing for one year. “From Nanjing to Singapore, I am very familiar with the environment in Singapore as I studied here for a doctorate for four years. Accepting this task means returning to my second hometown. So I feel like I get to work faster.”

At that time, GenScript Asia-Pacific Headquarters was constructed in the climbing up stage. In Singapore, Hengtai is more involved in production to help increase production capacity. At the same time, he also spends considerable time on R&D, working on projects such as intellectual property. “At present, about 60% of my time is spent on production, and the remaining 40% is devoted to R&D.”

It is not easy to meet customer needs, but Hengtai said with a smile, “By keeping close contact with customers, we can understand their current problems or pain points, and then we can develop practical solutions through internal cooperation to help them solve problems. In this way, we will gain the trust of customers, and they will also learn about GenScript’s professional ability in this process, thus promoting the cooperation.”

The competition in biotechnology is fierce, and competitors are constantly introducing new services. Hengtai stressed, “If we do not continue to conduct R&D and improve, we will be trapped in a difficult situation.”

Professional skill is one of the essential core competitiveness of an individual. Hengtai pays attention to improving his professional skill. He buys professional books every month and reads whenever he is free. He stressed, “Some technologies are not only applicable at laboratory level, but also at industrial level. We can further enhance our competitiveness by strengthening application of technologies.”

Ability improving in practice

When serving a key customer, Hengtai’s team encountered the problem of protein aggregation in the production process. He recalled, “At first, the customer gave us the proteins and antibodies that had been produced internally. Later I realized that it was the customer’s test of GenScript’s ability. We want to leave a good impression on customers, so we analyzed more than 200 antibodies one by one and found a solution.” The customer understood GenScript’s pursuit of excellent quality and established its trust in GenScript. The favorable cooperation between the two sides started.

Although this case has ended, Hengtai and his team believe that the value of this experience is that they should go all out at any time to provide customers with more perfect solutions and truly create values for customers through cooperation. He stressed, “Only by putting customers first into practice can we win the respect and trust of customers and bring more orders to GenScript.”

Difficult protein is one of GenScript’s advantages and a sharp weapon to attract customers. Hengtai said that discussing difficult proteins customers care about with them can often start a conversation more easily, grasp the concerns of customers, show GenScript’s advantages and strength, and win the favor of customers. He has accumulated rich experience in the process of project promotion. Now he can not only meet market challenges, but also work alongside his production colleagues. He has become an expert in Singapore site and has been praised and recognized by leaders and colleagues.

From Nanjing to Singapore, Hengtai’s work scope is constantly expanding, from R&D to more customer demand analysis and solution customization. Also he actively participates in meeting the needs of key customers. “I see this as a great opportunity for my career development. I can cooperate with some of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies, understand their needs, help them solve problems, and ensure that GenScript’s products and services can meet these needs. This helps me improve my skills and knowledge a lot.” He sincerely said.