In this new series, we wanted to provide a spotlight on some of our employees! Culture is an important part of OMass, so we want to show what it’s like to work here and what motivates OMassians to come to work every day.

Our first interviewee is Srinath Krishnamurthy, who joined us as a senior scientist back in February of 2022 and has quickly become an important part of the team ( & OMass band!). Srinath joined us from academia, where he was previously a post-doctoral researcher at KU Leuven University in Belgium. During his post-doc, he used mass spectrometry to understand structure, dynamics and function of protein nanomachines responsible for translocating polypeptide chains across bacterial membranes.

There are a number of companies within the biotech sector, what drew you to OMass?

The exciting science we do here is what first drew me to OMass. Even when I was an academic scientist, I had always admired the power of Native MS to provide unique answers that no other technique can provide. When I first learnt about OMass and our mission to translate the power of Native MS towards drug discovery of undruggable targets, I knew right then that I wanted to be a part of this effort. For most of my scientific career I have been using mass spectrometry to solve challenging problems in protein biochemistry, so I felt I could contribute to OMass’ mission and along the way learn a great deal about cutting edge drug discovery.

How long have you been at the company and what is your favourite part of working here?

I have been at OMass for a little more than a year now. My favourite part about working at OMass will always be the opportunity to work with the wonderful team we have here. I have found every individual to be highly talented and deeply passionate about doing innovative science and positively impacting patient lives. I seem to come away from every meeting or every interaction slightly wiser and ever more enthusiastic to achieve our goals.

What does it feel like to work at OMass?

Personally for me, working at OMass induces two main feelings or values, the freedom to innovate and the sense of personal responsibility to help the company achieve its goals. These two values in a way serve to counterbalance each other. I know that I have complete support and freedom to explore creative solutions to challenging problems, with the implicit assumption that failure is part of the process. But personal responsibility also means that I am goal-oriented; all efforts to innovate should ultimately contribute towards drugging these undruggable targets. I am constantly learning on how to achieve this balance and become a better scientist.

When not at work, where would we likely find you?

I go through phases where I completely immerse myself in one or two activities for a period of time while ignoring other hobbies. Currently I am mostly trying to improve my cooking skills and online video game abilities. But I already feel that this phase is waning, I now have the urge to restart tennis in earnest and restart practicing the guitar. But one activity that I always enjoy is to explore the numerous walking paths around Oxfordshire and the Chiltern hills area.

What is a cool paper that you have read recently?

There is this paper that came out a couple of years ago that I found particularly cool (here is the link). The aim of the paper was to understand how Coronaviruses interact with host cells. This study basically attacked the problem with every possible technique known, combining disciplines from virology to protein biochemistry, with the ultimate aim of understanding how coronaviruses (including the strain responsible for the Covid pandemic) are able to make specific interactions to infect the hosts. The remarkable thing about this study was that it was sent for publication in September 2020, a mere 6-8 months since the Covid pandemic started. To achieve the breadth and scope of the study at such speed, basically 20 or so research groups from across the world came together, each providing an important dataset to make the study possible. When I first read this study in the middle of the pandemic, it reminded me about the positive force that science can provide to the world.

Srinath & the OMass band in full swing!