Previous ABI intern Liz Hampton is back on the show with her colleague Barrett Morrow, who was the first hire at Austin-based diagnostics and testing company Nuclein. Like Angstrom, Nuclein is working on COVID tests, although their goal is to create a cheap, disposable, portable, all-in-one self-test diagnostic device that can help monitor infectious diseases, including COVID-19. Nuclein started out using ABI’s wet lab (which you can learn more about in Season 1), but have since grown out of the space and gone on to work in a larger lab. Barrett talks about his background and how he ended up being Nuclein’s first employee, giving us his first-hand experience in their intensive interview process and sharing what it was like to battle imposter syndrome as a young student trying to break into the bioscience field. 

Since their time as a start-up at ABI, Nuclein has grown exponentially, and Barrett is now on the other side of the hiring table, doing the interviewing. He shares some insight into what hiring looks like from the company’s perspective, and Liz talks about her experiences transitioning from ABI to working for Nuclein during the pandemic. They talk about what it was like to work for a diagnostics company during a global pandemic, and how their experience has changed at Nuclein since it has taken off and expanded so much in the past couple years. First Nuclein outgrew the lab space at ABI, and then they outgrew their second space, so the growth is continuing as the company flourishes. 

Barrett and Liz talk about the joys and pains of working for a start-up while it expands, and get into the details of how their roles have shifted since they first started at Nuclein, explaining what it’s like to work for a start-up in the bioscience industry. The close out part one with some insight into a day-in-the-life at Nuclein! 

Learn more about Nuclein. 

Learn more about ACC Bioscience Incubator. 

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