Stephen Rudd, senior specialist in bioinformatics
Stephen Rudd has spent his whole career in science, first in the UK, and then in Germany. In Finland he leapt from university research into the business world and began working in the pharmaceutical industry. Rudd works for the Orion Group and produces information for the company’s core areas.
Stephen Rudd, 32, works in Turku as a senior researcher in the Orion Group. Rudd’s area is bioinformatics. He is a computational biologist and works on a computer in laboratory conditions. The company’s core areas of interest are disorders of the central nervous system, heart disease and different treatment methods.
Rudd uses molecules to investigate a drug’s safety and to see if it will work in the way it is meant to. He explores different areas of biology and utilises high technology. The budget for research projects and deadlines are crucial factors.
“Competition is fierce, and research into drugs is slow and costly. A new drug can employ hundreds of people. We try to develop competitive products within a reasonable timeframe.”
Product develop requires not only molecular biologists, but also chemists, doctors, pharmacologists and statisticians. The production stage involves engineers and pharmaceutical employees, and the final stage sales and marketing professionals. Rudd is one of the few foreigners working at the Turku unit.
“It takes motivation, creativity and patience to carve a career as a scientist. You have to be dedicated.”
“On account of its smallness, Finland is perhaps not the world’s most alluring country. But Orion is a stable place to work. I like the way they do science in this company. The working conditions are absolutely fantastic, as are my colleagues.”
Half his time Rudd spends on actual research work in Turku, feeding data into a computer, going over information and analysing the results of research. The rest of the time he works in Espoo, attending meetings, meeting colleagues, planning and writing reports. Rudd is also a lecturer at Åbo Akademi University and tutors two students writing dissertations. He originally came to Finland at the behest of Åbo Akademi University.
“I was a researcher for four years in Munich, in Germany, and I wanted to work in a more challenging environment. Åbo Akademi University invited me to use two interesting laboratories of theirs.”
Rudd had been managing the labs for four years when he moved to his present job. He has now been with Orion for a year. Rudd was born in Wokingham, in England, studied biology at the University of Nottingham, wrote his doctoral thesis for Norwich University and graduated from there in 2000. Rudd lives in Turku with his German-born wife and three daughters.
“For a family with children Finland is a good country. The schools are excellent and children’s lives are protected. Our family’s greatest challenge is the language. My wife and I don’t speak Finnish yet, but our children can speak it well. Finnish is becoming for them something like a secret code.”
Text and photograph: Anu Likonen, Jukka Vuolle and Nanni Akkola
The Ministry of Employment and the Economy