To provide a range of innovative tools for accelerating drug development, InnoSer brings people from both scientific and business backgrounds together. With our interview series ‘A day in the life of’, let’s take a glimpse into what it is like to be part of this small but versatile and dynamic team!
Education
MSc Environmental Biology
Based in
Leiden Offices
Toolbox
Python, Java script, HTML
With InnoSer since
June 2021
Our data scientist, Sander is now settling into his new role, after rejoining the InnoSer team years later with his new passion. Sander began his career with InnoSer as a biotechnician in 2016 and has seen the company grow and take on new and exciting endeavors within the biotech industry. With a growing company comes new teams and Sander joins Wim Tiest, our Chief Technology Officer at InnoSer, whose ambitions are driving technological solutions and digital innovations.
Due to the current COVID-19 regulations, Sander’s day typically starts at home in Almere, with a fresh sandwich and a cup of coffee. He often has Zoom meetings with Wim to discuss the status of current projects, along with ideas and progress on the development of digital tools. “Although I have been mostly working from home, when I have the chance, I take the train and visit my colleagues at the offices in Leiden”. To pass the time commuting, he enjoys reading fantasy books or watching a new series.
His current focus is to optimize data management within InnoSer’s internal systems to streamline the data collection process and enhance internal communications. This first means establishing a database and developing a “front-end” to make its management easy. “I want to optimize the processes of storing, visualizing, and sharing data at InnoSer via a graphical user interface. My goal is to make my colleagues’ lives easier!” Getting the balance right between design and feedback is a constant challenge in the world of programming. “Sometimes you are creating something that might not have the right features, but you won’t know this until the team tests it out”. Sander is currently exploring gathering data collected from our R&D projects such as PDX/O, which can later be extended to client studies.
Although working mostly remote, Sander had the opportunity to reconnect with the team during the last team day in Eindhoven. He was happy to attend the event, meet new colleagues and learn more about the new direction the company is taking since he last worked with us as a small startup. “I am happy to be back at InnoSer! I have been given the opportunity to work on a broad topic in which I am constantly developing new ideas with other members of the team. This means there is flexibility and plenty of room to come up with innovative tools.”
Sander has always had an affinity with digital technology and games, such as puzzles and videogames. These logical and conceptual challenges require problem-solving skills, which are essential in data science and programming. After first joining the team in his first position, Sander followed his interests and left to continue studying. He undertook a master’s degree in Environmental Biology, with a minor in data science. “Although it is not my main expertise, InnoSer invited me to start in a role that I’m passionate about. Knowing that InnoSer has trust in me to fulfill this position is super motivating. I know I will grow in this role and acquire many new skills along the way!” What Sander loves the most about his work is watching his project come to life and knowing it will change the way his colleagues work for the better.
Sander’s workday ends by shutting down his computer… only to turn it on again to play video games with friends. “I prefer getting off the computer for the last part of the evening, either to listen to some music, watch some shows on Netflix (where I tend to cycle through the same few comedy series), or of course to read. Most importantly, he enjoys spending time with his loyal companion “I have a very needy cat. When I’m done working, he always demands playtime – especially when I worked the day at the office, in which case he comes running to greet me at the door”.
About Sander
Sander undertook a bachelor in zoology which was followed by a master’s degree in environmental biology with a minor in data science. Before starting his master’s, Sander worked at InnoSer as a biotechnician, between 2016 & 2017. Familiar with programming, he was given the opportunity to return to InnoSer as a data scientist, at the beginning of June 2021 Sander makes use of Python and other computational tools to improve internal and external communication systems and optimize overall data storage.
Share this story on social media! 
