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Singer Instruments, SomersetMichaela Spitzer

R&D Scientist

We do not build Sewing Machines!

Singer Instruments

● Manufacturer of Scientific Instruments● Founded in 1943, 3rd generation family business● Currently ~30 people● Headquarters in Exmoor National Park, Somerset:

R&D, Manufacture, Assembly, Sales & Marketing● Sales Offices & Applications Labs in Singapore and

California● Soon: Sales Office & Applications Lab in Germany

Mk1 - Micromanipulator

MSM400 - Dissection Microscope

ROTOR - Manipulation of High Density Arrays

PhenoBooth - Colony Imaging

Serial Filler - Automated Pouring of Agar Plates

Our customers

● Single cell manipulation, HTP screens

● Our Customers work with ○ Yeast○ Bacteria○ Algae○ Fungi ○ …

● Our customers work on○ Microbiology○ Drug discovery○ Beer and wine research○ Synthetic Biology○ …

My Path to Singer Instruments

● BSc Bioinformatics (Freie Universität Berlin)● BSc (hons) Bioinformatics (Auckland University)● PhD in Functional Genomics (U of Toronto, U of Edinburgh)● Postdoc in Chemical Genetics & Proteomics (U of Edinburgh)● Postdoc in Fungal Pathogens, Natural Products and High-Throughput Screening

(McMaster University)

My Path to Singer Instruments

● My Role as a Scientist at Singer Instruments○ Sales in the UK - Information about instruments, instrument demos, dealing with

customization requests○ Marketing - Website content○ R&D - Development and Testing of new Scientific Instruments○ But also:

■ Setting up and running the lab at Singer Instruments■ Continuous improvement of our Product Development Process■ QC of instruments before shipping to customers

● Singer Instruments is a small company, so I am involved in many different aspects of the business.

● I am interacting with everyone there (Software programmers, Engineers, Sales & Marketing Team, Assembly and Workshop technicians) and with our customers for Sales and for R&D

Life at Singer Instruments as a Scientist

● Development of new products○ Actively guide development of products○ Define test criteria and conduct tests for new products

● Market Research for Future Products○ Looking into latest developments for specific applications○ General market research for our target audience, ie, yeast community, synthetic biology

● Application development○ Example ROTOR: Working with filamentous fungi & Streaking for single colonies

● Ongoing testing of current products○ Testing petri dishes in the Serial Filler (different makes and types of plates, divided dishes)○ Continuous development and improvement of Colony Analysis software PhenoSuite

● Marketing/Website content○ Interviews with Scientists who use our instruments○ Short write-up of recent publications, highlighting how our instruments were useful

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Singer Instruments, SomersetMichaela Spitzer

R&D Scientist