Today we’d like to introduce you to Enrique Arevalo.
Enrique, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I grew up in a small city in the rainforest of Peru. In high school, I developed the curiosity for learning about the chemical nature of the things that surround us and decided to study Chemistry. Since there was no Chemistry major in my native city, I flew to Lima-Peru to pursue my undergrad classes in the science that I started to feel passionate about it.
Thanks to the support of my parents and siblings, I completed my undergrad classes and finished my first research project in the area of Organometallics that concluded in my first dissertation. Since no University in Peru would offer graduate studies in the field of Chemistry, I applied to several graduate programs here in the United States. I was lucky to be accepted in the Biochemistry program of the City University of New York. The program opened my eyes towards the field of biological systems in the context of biochemical and chemical reactions.
After finishing my Ph.D. in Biochemistry in the area of structural biology, I did a postdoctoral training in the Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital studying neurotransmitters and their receptors in the context of anesthetics. One of my post-doctoral projects involved learning about the binding of an alcohol mimetic to a neuronal cell adhesion protein called L1. This project introduced me to the world of mass spectrometry.
Since I became more interested in learning about this analytical technique I joined the Barnett Institute at Northeastern University as a Senior Scientist to further my expertise in this field. My work in the analysis of glycoproteins landed me the first industrial job in a small biotech company called Momenta Pharmaceutical. I worked in Momenta for more than 10 years and it is here where I consolidated all my learnings of chemistry, biochemistry, structural biology and analytical techniques to study complex molecules.
I also added a few more skills such as data analysis of complex biological data. Living and researching in Boston allowed me to attend many local meetings for entrepreneurs (MIT and WEST) and it is here where I started seeding the idea of starting my own business and learning all the things that are necessary for this endeavor. The desire to start my own business did not fade away despite feeling comfortable working in a more established company. It actually increased it in the last few years given that I always received questions from friends and colleagues regarding companies that provide mass spectrometry services.
I was also asked to help them understand the results they received from them. This made realize that there is a niche in this field that we can delve into so that we can help the small research organizations with the powers of the analytical technique and provide the support needed to interpret the results that are important to achieve their goals.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
We have been lucky that we landed in an organization (Northshore Innoventures bio-incubator) that provides a lot of support to startup companies. So far it has been a smooth path.
Spectrus – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Spectrus is a contract research organization that provides mass spectrometry services to companies and academic labs. Our forte is in the analysis of biomolecules such as proteins, peptides and some other biochemical entities. We measure the mass of these molecules that allow us to identify the molecules.
Spectrus pride itself on being a partner to the organizations that want to work with us.
We want to understand the biological problem the client faces, we help them design the best analytical method to answer it and we help them with understanding the results. It is this full package that separates us from most of our competitors.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success for us is the success of our customers. If the experiments, methods and strategies designed help them answer their question, we feel rewarded.
Contact Info:
- Address: 100 Cummings Center, Suite 451C Beverly, MA-01915
- Website: https://spectruscorp.com/
- Phone: 6172978736
- Email: earevalo@spectruscorp.com
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/spectruscorp/
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