Natalie Kuldell (00:03):
Hi there, Abbie.
Abbie Underhill (00:05):
Hi, Natalie. How are you?
Natalie Kuldell (00:06):
Oh, I’m so glad you could join today. Thank you so much. Um, you have a very interesting job and I was hoping maybe you could introduce yourself and where you work and a little about what you do.
Abbie Underhill (00:19):
Yeah, I’d love to. So my name is Abbie Underhill and I work at a company called SBI, as a product manager. So we manufacture optical sensors, very high level, that’s what we do. Right now, you know, we offer sensors for biomass. We have an automated feeding system and we also have in development, really cool single-use sensors for pH and dissolved oxygen. So I really get to be involved with product development, roadmap planning, and just lots of different areas of the company, because we are at a startup scale. So it’s small and I get to wear a lot of hats. And it’s a really, really fun job.
Natalie Kuldell (00:58):
There are so many parts to that that we could unpack. Right. So, the kinds of things that you measure as cells grow, right? That’s sort of the focus of where you’re working and then working in a startup is such a fascinating sort of experience right. At the whole experience. Um, and then how you landed in this aspect of it is also super interesting, so what do you think would be worth unpacking first? We’ll touch on all of them.
Abbie Underhill (01:32):
Oh, well, I guess we can start with, you know, the vision of the company and why we are developing the sensors that we are. Essentially, our main goal is to simplify bioprocessing. So, there are a lot of incredibly talented, intelligent people out there working on cutting edge research, bioprocessing experiments, and their day to day lives can sometimes get taken up with very tedious processes like manual measurements, manual sampling, manual feeding of their systems. And so, our idea is that if we can go in and either make those processes easier, simplify it, automate it. Um, it’ll basically free up the brain space and time of these intellectuals that they can focus on more of the analysis and gaining really actionable insights from this data that they’re collecting. And so, like I said, we’re doing biomass. Typically a pretty laborious process to calculate biomass within fermentation experiments and things like that. And so being able to go in and just have a sensor that will collect those measurements in real time, automated, you know, you can set it, leave it overnight and then come back to great insights in the morning. It’s revolutionary, honestly, for the bio processing field.
Natalie Kuldell (02:50):
I think it’s amazing because it is just not possible to make real-time measurements consistently, right? Like throughout the time that you want to sort of examine yourselves. So, you kind of have those two choices. You either sample periodically, manually, or you develop the tools like you guys have to be able to have a machine do it for you. And then, like you say, free up the brain power of the others who can go on to do other things during that time. It’s very smart, very smart. I love tools. Tools are great to advance this field, and it’s an amazing tool. So, great. So you guys are not a ginormous company, right? You’re new and smallish?
Abbie Underhill (03:33):
Correct. Uh, we actually have a parent company, Scientific Industries, that has been in this space for 40 years or so manufacturing benchtop laboratory equipment. So we are more of the R & D division of our parent company. And so that just means that we get to be involved with pushing this new technology, developing it and interacting with customers who are open to trying these new resources in the hope that we can kind of change the status quo and what is just expected in bioprocessing. So, overcoming that expectation that, oh, I have to do all this manual work and say, no, actually you don’t and your life can be easier and simpler with this new technology. And it’s really exciting because we get to work with so many industry partners, academic partners, who are such forward thinking individuals. And, I love that aspect of my job, getting to talk with these people who are doing such cool research. It really is an amazing community.
Natalie Kuldell (04:37):
It is, it is a lot of brave individuals and forward thinkers. I completely agree. And, you know, BioBuilder is super excited to be bringing this into the teaching that we do as well. Cause I think that we will make this next generation completely familiar with it and then they’ll come and they’ll be like, of course, this is how you measure biomass, like who, who would ever think to sample it. Right? You know, so we will completely socialize the idea that there’s a way to do it with tools instead of just with manual efforts. So that’s very cool. You came to this through a scientific pathway or a business pathway or a entrepreneurial pathway? How did you come to land in this job?
Abbie Underhill (05:19):
So I actually joined SBI. It was my first job after I graduated my bachelor’s in bioengineering. I went to a small school out in Washington state called Walla Walla University. And, because it was so small, I actually was able to, make really good relationships with my primary bioengineering professor, and mentor. And she actually connected me with the CEO of the company. And so that’s how I landed in this role, well in this job. I actually started with SBI as an application scientist because I had hands-on experience working with cell culture, working in the lab. And so, I was able to kind of translate those skills into that appSi role, where I really got to interface with customers and learn about those applications and see what they needed in their labs so that their lives could be easier.
Abbie Underhill (06:10):
And so I was in that role for about a year, I’d say, maybe a year and a half actually before I kind of got pulled more into the marketing product management role. So, it was taking all of those experiences with customers, everything I learned and using that information to then drive our product development. And so I really feel like I’ve found my niche. I think, I feel like my skills are being very well utilized in this position and it’s exciting to be more in the driver’s seat in where we wanna go with our products.
Natalie Kuldell (06:43):
Yeah, I mean, you’re an excellent sort of listener and synthesizer of all the information and in our conversations in the past. So I can totally see how this aligns with your interests, your skills, your talents and that this is a really perfect role for you. Wow. Small university in bioengineering. That’s a big brave leap. Did you grow up near Walla Walla?
Abbie Underhill (07:14):
In Wall Walla, yeah.
Natalie Kuldell (07:16):
Wow. That’s so cool. Great. So you went to a local university and studied bioengineering. Now, bioengineering is not a field that a lot of people sort of anticipate going into when they leave high school did you know bioengineers, did you have role models who encouraged you?
Abbie Underhill (07:36):
I did not. So my thought process going into bioengineering was that I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I didn’t have a clear career path picked out for me. I know some people are blessed with knowing what they want to do in life right away. And I think that’s so cool, but for me, it was, I knew I had a lot of interests and I wanted to leave as many doors open as possible. And so, I can say I was considering medical school. I was considering maybe science. I love science. I love anatomy physiology, um, came to love cell culture. And so bioengineering kind of allowed me to get the foundation I needed so that I could pursue any one of those paths. And so by leaving those doors open, as I gained more information learned more about what was out there, what I could do, it just enabled me to make that decision later on in life versus just deciding.
Natalie Kuldell (08:35):
Right. That narrow path, no, I think it’s great advice to think about, you know, ways to leave as many options open as you can is very smart. And it’s a wonderful, you know, privilege when you can study something that has so many possible directions that it can lead to. You have certainly found an interesting one. Any wisdom you would share with folks who might have, who might be thinking about, um, thinking medical school. They’re not really sure. They like science, like, everything you just said. I liked science. I liked a lot of things. I think that captures a lot of people’s sort of place. So, anything you found particularly helpful or people that helped you along the way?
Abbie Underhill (09:24):
So something that was crucial in my decision making process, deciding I actually did want to do industry position as a scientist engineer over medical school is I actually got an internship at a research lab at a medical school. And so I was interacting with medical students who were getting their research credits done. I was interacting with other undergraduates who were interested in medicine and it allowed me to be in that environment and I realized that what I really loved was the science side of things. And that I, instead of more working with the technologies I wanted to be a part of the team that was developing the technologies. And so that was critical to me. So, you know, apply for internships would be my biggest suggestion. And then, you know, like I said, my mentor, my advisor actually really gave me this opportunity. She connected me with the right people. So find someone that you trust, that can be a mentor advisor to you and just have conversations with them, ask the opinion, you know? Most of the time your professors are going to be well connected. They’re going to have an understanding of what’s going on in the industry and academic space. And so they’ll be a great resource for you
Natalie Kuldell (10:49):
Absolutely man, I would plus one that if I could write that anywhere, because I hear sometimes from students that they don’t wanna be annoying, they don’t wanna seem like they’re, you know, in somebody’s face, but it’s actually just the opposite. None of us got to where we are without somebody along the way, helping, make a connection point us in a direction – it’s not an annoyance, it’s actually just the way things work. So, I think that turning to mentors and being open to introductions is a great piece of advice. Yeah. Super. Do you keep in touch with your mentor?
Abbie Underhill (11:31):
I do. Yeah. I actually, I was home over the holidays and I actually ran into her at the little local ski mountain and we had a great conversation reconnected. They got awarded a grant. And so they’re actually have been given the opportunity to build out the bioengineering labs when I was there, we kind of borrowed space from biology and engineering. And so now there’s going to be a whole bioengineering space at my university. And it’s very exciting to hear. I’m really glad to see that the program is taking off and growing.
Natalie Kuldell (12:05):
Yeah. And how cool would it be if some of the things you’re working on in your work ended up in the lab that they are now building, right.
Abbie Underhill (12:15):
That would be an eventual goal. We’ve definitely had conversations. They have worked with some of our pilot equipment, um, given us great feedback. And so still keeping that connection and being able to share this technology with my old university it’s a really cool position to be in. And it just highlights to me how small the bioprocessing space actually is. You get out, like for me, I’ve been here for not quite two years now, I’ve been working in this space and you start realizing the connections that are there and like, oh, well, you know that person. So do I, and it’s, it’s amazing the network that’s available here.
Natalie Kuldell (12:58):
It is. It is a group – it’s a team sport that’s for sure. Yeah, absolutely. So, well, I imagine great things. I can’t wait to see the growth in your Alma mater and the growth of the company that you’re helping to really push the envelope for bioprocessing. So thank you for taking some time to chat.
Abbie Underhill (13:22):
Of course. Yeah. It was my pleasure. And you know, if anyone has questions I think you can give them my email information, anything like that, and I’d be happy to hop on a call and meet with any of your students.
Natalie Kuldell (13:35):
Thank you so much. Thank you, thank you.