WORK HISTORY
Following completion of his PhD Dr Bates continued working at Trinity College Dublin for a further 6 years initially as a research assistant for 9 months before and subsequently working in a number of Postdoctoral Fellowship roles with various cancer research groups. In November 2022 Dr Bates left academia to take up a position as a Field Applications Scientist with Indica Labs supporting the image analysis projects of various academic labs, healthcare organisations and biopharma customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Field Applications Scientist (EMEA) - Indica Labs
(2022-2024)
Summary
Hybrid role providing applications and sales support in digital pathology and image analysis for Indica Labs HALO, HALO Link, and HALO AI platforms.
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Duties & Responsibilities
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Acted as the main point of contact for training, support and sales queries for customers in the UK, Ireland and Austria including academic customers, hospitals, CROs and biopharma companies e.g. Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, MSD, GSK, AstraZeneca, Immatics, Adaptimmune, Immunocore, Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, Exeter, Vienna among others.
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Discuss project scope and requirements with customers, set customer expectations and timelines on the use of AI-based algorithms and provided quotes based on customer-specific needs and available budget.
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Develop new customer-specific algorithms as part of proof-of-concept analyses and train new customer team members as required.
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Regularly participated in tradeshows, webinars, conferences, user group meetings and on-site visits to customers/prospects.
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Maintained an up-to-date contact list and responded to customer inquiries in a timely and informative manner using the customer relations management platform Vtiger.
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Provided customer updates/deal close date forecasting to company management via bi-monthly opportunity pipeline meetings.
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Discussed the company communication plan and plans for escalation/de-escalation with the marketing team at monthly meetings, generated reports on event success/failure, adjusted lead/case status on Vtiger as needed, responded to customer marketing campaign & tradeshow lead queries and promoted company news on social media.
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Helped potential prospects with grant submissions/tenders through proposal review and by providing sole source documentation, software specification documents, letters of support, quotations, software trials and proof of concept analyses.
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Provided monthly reports to the applications team manager on customer engagement/sales & other opportunities.
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Industry Fellowship - Trinity College Dublin
(2019-2022)
Summary
SFI-Funded Industry Fellowship in conjunction with Becton Dickinson (BD) examining the contribution of platelets and their disruption using aspirin to breast cancer metastasis.
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Duties & Responsibilities
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Regularly met with external collaborators; Becton Dickinson, Angle Plc, ScreenCell, Envision Sciences, Eurofins Biomnis, Illumina, Hologic, University of South Australia, RMIT and others to discuss ongoing/potential new projects.
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Regularly met and generated reports for the department head and lab managers to discuss the project plan, set expectations and timelines, review the project budget and outline risks for project continuation.
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Optimise protocols for new techniques and prepare detailed SOPs.
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Scope out and budget projects as part of various submitted grant proposals for different funding bodies including SFI, EI, HRB, the Irish Cancer Society and Akoya Bioscience.
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Help to resolve conflicts between co-workers on team projects.
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Process CTC samples and assess cancer cell-platelet interactions using various in vitro assays.​
Postdoctoral Fellow in Immunopathology - Trinity College Dublin
(2018-2019)​
Summary
HRB-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship aiming to determine whether various tumour-scoring methods could predict patient clinical outcomes in Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma., supervised by Dr Margaret Dunne and Dr Peter Caie, Trinity College Dublin & University of St Andrews.
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Duties & Responsibilities
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Meet regularly with the project principal investigators and collaborators to discuss project progress and present study updates at research lab meetings/conferences.
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Ensure project timelines/deliverables were met and that the study was coming within the specified budget & order project materials as required.
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Optimise protocols for FFPE RNA extraction, immunofluorescence staining, western blotting and digital whole-slide imaging of tissue biopsies.
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Prepare detailed lab protocols developed towards GCP standards and present them to the lab manager for filing.
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Develop machine learning algorithms to analyse images using state-of-the-art digital pathology software and carry out statistical analysis of patient/biomarker data.
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Prepare various grant proposals for funding bodies including SFI, Google and ICS
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Postdoctoral Fellow in Radiobiology and Molecular Oncology
(2017-2018)
Summary
SFI TIDA Postdoctoral Fellowship supervised by Dr Laure Marignol and Dr Adriele Prina-Mello, Trinity College Dublin Investigating the role and commercialisation potential of a radioresistance prostate cancer biomarker.
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Duties & Responsibilities
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Regularly discuss the project progress and biomarker commercialisation potential with the principal investigators and TCD technology transfer office.
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Prepare various research articles, reviews and abstracts for publication.
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Plan projects, supervise and correct thesis/abstracts from MSc, MD & PhD students and discuss student project progress/failings with the principal investigator.
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Ensure adherence to lab safety protocols, adequate stock provision and schedule regular deep cleaning of lab facilities.
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Optimise protocols & prepare SOPs for immunostaining and western blotting with various available commercial antibodies of the protein biomarker of interest.
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Research Assistant - Trinity College Dublin
(2016-2017)
Summary
Research Assistant position based at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Trinity College Dublin supervised by Dr Sharon O’Toole and Dr Lucy Norris. The position involved helping to maintain the ovarian cancer biobank, construct a TMA for IHC staining and also conduct a research study comparing mRNA expression levels of coagulation markers in patients with endometriosis and ovarian clear cell cancer.
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Duties & Responsibilities
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Collect blood and tissue samples, review patient charts and update the Obstetrics & Gynaecology department patient database as required.
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Collect FFPE samples from archives, optimise protocols and scope projects for IHC/mRNA analysis.
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Carry out statistical analysis of patient data and TMA biomarker score results.
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Carry out risk assessments and detailed stock analysis/chemical inventory and arrange disposal of outdated reagents.
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Supervise medical interns and help to resolve conflicts where they occurred.
