Meet Kiran Khakh, Associate Analytical Services Scientist at Owlstone Medical

At Owlstone Medical the problems we are trying to solve are enormously difficult, but our people are our greatest asset. To enable our progress, we've fostered a dynamic working environment that allows our talented and dedicated multidisciplinary team to flourish.?

Kiran Khakh joined us two years ago and recently started our graduate scheme. Now, as an Associate Analytical Services Scientist, she is responsible for delivering tube holders for Breath Biopsy kits and tubes and other consumables for internal use around the organization. ??

Could you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m Kiran and I’ve been at Owlstone for two years as an Associate Scientist. I’m originally from Kent but moved to Cambridge for work. Before this, I was studying Biomedical Science at university where I also worked part time as a healthcare assistant for the NHS. Prior to Owlstone, I had never worked in a laboratory before and was excited when I found out I had got a job especially during the peak of the pandemic. Aside from work, I mostly enjoy going back home to spend time with friends and family doing anything from watching movies to trying out new escape rooms.?

You’re currently on Owlstone’s graduate scheme, what does that entail? ?

The graduate scheme is a series of sessions done over two years that cover a whole range of topics. The topics will help support graduates to become well rounded employees and develop a deep business knowledge. So far, I’ve only had a couple sessions but have already covered quite a lot of subjects. Our first session was a personal working styles and strengths workshop where we learnt a lot about how the different and varying working styles can come together in a team. I am excited to be able to continue this into the new year and learn more about working in a growing business.?

What does a day in the life of an Associate Analytical Services Scientist look like??

Analytical services provide support to a whole range of projects/departments. The Breath Biopsy Lab team maintain the main Breath Biopsy Lab, and facilitate the assembling, shipping and receiving of kits as well as covering the supply of consumables to different projects such as caps and tubes etc. We ensure biomonitoring tubes go through their life cycle ranging from conditioning, sampling, purging to even placing them in frozen storage to ensure they are ready for analysis. As well as this, we also help with the running and analysis of kits within the Hydrogen Methane Breath Testing (HMBT) lab. Being an Associate Scientist means there is never a dull day!

How does the Analytical Services team support Owlstone’s core mission to save lives? ?

I feel as though a lot of the work Analytical Services do support Owlstone’s mission to save 100,000 lives and $1.5B in healthcare costs. The Analytical Services team provide the kits that are used in breath sampling. Within this, we ensure tubes go through their necessary processes to be ready for sampling. When breath samples come back, we check in kits ensuring there are no issues before we purge them ready for analysis. We also do the same in the HMBT lab which help patients with gut health issues. This is usually all done with a fairly high turnover. By providing this assistance to multiple project/departments, we are supporting Owlstone’s mission.?

What projects are you working on at the moment that excite you??

I am currently working on a project in which we aim to provide a method whereby incoming goods such as tubes and caps go through a quality control process, which I am really enjoying and looking forward to implementing.

What advice would you give anyone that’s interested in working at Owlstone Medical??

As someone who didn’t have any lab experience after leaving university, I have been very lucky to begin my career at Owlstone. The company gave me an opportunity to jumpstart my career. My advice would be if you are interested in working at Owlstone, you need to have a passion to want to help people and are interested in being a part of a new and growing business, then this is the place to be. Not only is the work we are doing super exciting but the people at Owlstone make such a huge difference in the general working environment.??

Owlstone Medical is expanding – we’re currently recruiting for both permanent and short-term roles. If you’d like to join Kiran and the rest of our talented team and help us save 100,000 lives and $1.5B in healthcare spending, then view current vacancies.