Dr Helen Manley has a PhD in molecular microbiology and over 15 years of experience working in marketing and communications for suppliers to the life science and healthcare sectors, in particular in areas of food protection, clinical microbiology, and Biopharma drug discovery, development and manufacturing.
Despina Lymperopoulou is a senior R&D leader with over 20 years of experience in Microbial genomics, Microbiology, and translational life sciences innovation. She joined Thermo Fisher Scientific in April 2022 as Senior Manager of Pharma Analytics R&D, where she leads strategic research initiatives supporting advanced analytical solutions.
Despina brings deep expertise in next-generation sequencing (NGS), bioinformatics pipeline development, and regulated product development. Prior to Thermo Fisher, she established NGS and bioinformatics capabilities at Boost Biomes and later led the development of next-generation IVD products at Mawi DNA Technologies, driving regulatory strategies aligned with FDA (510(k)), CE-IVD, and other global requirements.
Despina is recognized for bridging scientific rigor with practical product development, translating complex genomics research into scalable, regulatory-compliant solutions that advance life sciences innovation.
Ericka graduated with a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of West Alabama and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology from Penn State. She began her career as an R&D Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2022 where she focused on developing kits and reagents for nucleic acid isolation. Ericka has helped to develop and launch several products including TaqMan™ Cells-to-CT™ Express Kit and the MagMAX™ HMW DNA Kit. Her primary goals at work are to ask questions and solve problems. While Ericka enjoys her role as a scientist, her greatest fulfillment comes from being a wife and mom!
Archana Gupta is a market development manager for global biotech at Thermo Fisher Scientific. She holds a PhD in Immunology and Microbiology and has research expertise in chronic inflammation emerging from virus infections. Her diverse background in research and industry has equipped Archana with a keen understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities in scientific innovation and commercialization, and in her current role, she leverages that knowledge to drive customer engagement and foster growth in the biotech sector.
