At BICO, science is driven by curiosity, collaboration, and the belief that diverse perspectives pave the way to breakthrough innovation. Today, we celebrate the women across our brands whose expertise, passion, and determination push the boundaries of what’s possible – from bioprinting and biomaterials to lab automation and diagnostics.
Meet some of the incredible scientists and technical leaders shaping the future of our industry.
Alyssa Deely
Applications Consulting Scientist
- What is your job at Biosero?
I’m the Applications Consulting Scientist for the West Coast, meaning I am the customer’s first technical contact with Biosero and our products, and I guide them through their automation journey.
- Why do you like it?
Every day is different, and I’m solving real problems for labs. At a philosophical level, when labs can do their research faster, cures get found sooner. At a day-to-day level, I’m always working on something new, and I’m able to interact with researchers at the cutting edge of science. I spend my days talking to scientists to understand their needs and proposing solutions that meet them. Having been in the lab myself, I can empathize and understand the problems they face and want to make their jobs easier.
- Which BICO value best represents your work, and why?
Collaboration. In this field, you need so many different roles and skill sets to bring a project to life. No one can do it all alone, so being a good collaborator is paramount. - What inspired you to pursue a career in science?
Growing up, I didn’t know that having a career as a scientist existed outside of academia. Eventually, I had awesome science teachers who told me about their work experiences before getting into teaching, and those conversations opened my eyes to the industry of science. Once I knew that career path existed, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Getting to invent and explore has always been the dream, and my mentors have helped me realize how to achieve it.
- What do you wish more people understood about your field?
Lab automation isn’t intimidating! A good attitude and willingness to learn are the most important traits to get into this field. Automation is so large and so diverse that no one ever knows everything. Just always be trying to absorb more.
- What future innovation or discovery excites you the most about lab automation?
The idea of using independent plate moving tiles to integrate directly into instruments rather than robotic arms moving labware from place to place could change the scheme of lab automation systems (imagine drive-throughs instead of parking and getting out of your car). Fewer physical handoffs of samples mean more efficient and controlled labware movement and near unlimited amounts of flexibility. The way we design automation could fundamentally change as we adapt to new hardware and software capabilities.
- What advice would you give to girls and young women interested in science?
Just keep asking questions and stay curious! Talk to role models in the field and don’t be afraid to reach out! When I first got into college, I didn’t know my current job was an option, but I love that I found it. Your future career path might not even exist right now with the speed at which technology evolves, so keep exploring and stay curious!
Bailie Sepulveda
Marketing Coordinator
- What is your job at ECHO?
I work in the marketing department at Discover Echo as a Marketing Coordinator.
- Why do you like it?
I enjoy being able to think creatively in an industry where marketing has traditionally lagged behind. It’s exciting to think outside the box, push boundaries, and see those ideas come to life. I like being able to test new strategies, experiment with ideas, and find ways to stand out from competitors.
- Which BICO value best represents your work, and why?
Grit resonates most with my work because successful marketing comes from consistently executing projects and seeing ideas through from start to finish. This is important to stand out in a competitive space. While grit is important, it also requires the other three BICO values. It requires staying focused and working closely with other teams to get projects across the finish line. - What inspired you to pursue a career in science?
My background is in business, specifically marketing, and I didn’t know much about life sciences before joining ECHO. What drew me in was the passion behind the microscopes, and the impact our products have had on customers’ research. I’m inspired every day by how our microscopes have helped push science forward and it inspires me to use my marketing skills to make their workflows easier and more effective.
- What do you wish more people understood about your field?
Marketing isn’t just about creating flyers or sales materials. It’s about making sure customers truly understand who we are and our products long before they speak to sales. When done well, marketing builds awareness, trust, and interest so that by the time a customer reaches the sales team, they already know who we are. At the same time, a big part is tracking and analyzing data to understand which channels are performing well, so we can continuously improve and make smarter decisions about where to focus marketing efforts.
- What future innovation or discovery excites you the most?
Currently, I’ve been fascinated by brain research. It’s incredible to see the images some of our customers capture with their microscopes and how they use this data to understand brain development more and help develop future therapies.
- What advice would you give to girls and young women interested in science?
My advice is to follow your curiosity and don’t worry if your path isn’t traditional. You don’t have to be in a lab or have a traditional science background to make an impact in the field. Your expertise can bring more to the table than you think. Whether like me in marketing, or another area, you can make a meaningful impact to advancing science.
Elin Pernevik
Senior Scientist, Bioprinting
- What is your job at CELLINK?
I work as a senior scientist in bioprinting, focused on biomaterial development. It’s a creative job that mixes innovation, troubleshooting, hands-on lab work, biomaterial testing, and developing printing protocols so customers can easily use our products. I also support grant projects and help customers design and troubleshoot bioinks.
- Why do you like it?
I like that it’s creative and problem-solving driven, and that my work can have a real impact when combined with cell biology to build advanced tissue models. As an ethical vegan, I’m also motivated by the potential to replace animal models with more relevant human systems.
- Which BICO value best represents your work, and why?
Collaboration. My work depends on combining expertise across fields — especially working closely with customers and cell biologists to create better models and solutions. - What inspired you to pursue a career in science?
I’ve always been curious and loved chemistry and biology — especially problem solving (thanks mom, a great role model, literally not a problem she won’t try to solve). Later, my late chemistry teacher Helena told me I had to pursue science because I questioned things and had the intuition for it, and that stayed with me. I’m still the one with questions, stress-testing ideas, as my manager and colleagues have experienced.
- What do you wish more people understood about your field?
That biomaterial development is both technical and creative. It’s constant iteration to balance shape fidelity, mechanical properties, and the desired cell function for each application — there’s always a trade-off. - What excites you most about the future of biomaterials?
The pace of development. Staying on top of biomaterial trends and helping push the field forward together toward better human tissue models — and less reliance on animal testing — is incredibly exciting. - What advice would you give to girls and young women interested in science?
Believe in yourself, ask the questions, and go after what you find interesting. Your voice and ideas belong in science.
Felicia Truckenmüller
Manager, Applications Team
- What is your job at DISPENDIX?
At DISPENDIX, I manage the commercial team of our application scientists, who are responsible for pre-sales consultation, as well as successful customer implementation. The goal is to have happy customers whose research is facilitated by our devices.
- Why do you like it?
Being on the front line with customers is highly interesting due to the versatility of their applications. Working together with researchers from many different scientific areas fuels the naturally curious mind. Every time I can learn something new, I am happy. I also truly believe that our technologies ease scientists’ everyday laboratory tasks, and feeling their excitement about this always makes me smile. Admittedly, stepping into a commercial role revealed some tendencies for me to be quite drawn to numbers.
- Which BICO value best represents your work, and why?
Probably the most dominant ones that come to my mind are collaboration and grit. Anyone who has worked in a laboratory will understand. Nobody can do it all alone, it needs regular exchange, both internally within our specific field team and with the customers as well.
Grit is equally needed when an experiment fails. A scientist will never simply accept a failure. Instead, they will ask themselves: Why did it fail? Will it fail again? How did it fail? What could I do differently to make it successful? And there you have it. - What inspired you to pursue a career in science?
The truth is, I have never had a thought of doing something else. Ever since middle and high school, I was completely sold on biology and chemistry, and combining the two felt like the only logical thing for me to study. Maybe it’s in my DNA 😉 The reason why this still resonates with me today is because working in scientific fields, e.g. as cancer research is driven by a genuine desire to make the world a better place.
- What do you wish more people understood about your field?
Every lab can begin by automating some of its workflows. It does not need to be a large company or a core facility. In fact, I think every lab should. Automation speeds up experiments, reduces human errors, can often decrease costs in the long run and therefore absolutely brings value to the lab.
- What excites you most about the future of lab automation/liquid handling/single-cell workflows?
I am curious to see how AI can further support in the preparation and analysis of experiments. If AI can help reduce the time scientists spend on repetitive tasks, it will free them to focus on more meaningful experiments. This could ultimately accelerate research and deepen our understanding of complex and fatal diseases.
- What advice would you give to girls and young women interested in science?
Do it. Go for it. Always think of the women who contributed to groundbreaking research, like Rosalind Franklin, Marie Skłodowska–Curie or Katalin Kariko. For example, Katalin was always convinced of her science, struggling for funding and dealing with drawbacks for many years until her breakthrough came during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was later awarded the Nobel Prize, the crowning achievement for any scientist.
Julia Scherzinger
Application Scientist
- What is your job at CYTENA?
I am an Application Scientist, which means I am in the lab and run experiments on our devices.
- Why do you like it?
Biology isn’t always predictable — something that works one day can behave differently the next, and that challenge is part of what makes the work so engaging. I’m motivated by how advances in lab technology and automation help reduce variability and make experiments more reliable. There’s nothing more rewarding than when a carefully planned experiment finally comes together after weeks of work — those moments make all the persistence worth it.
- Which BICO value best represents your work, and why?
Collaboration resonates most with my work because science today is deeply interdisciplinary, bringing together people with very different expertise and perspectives. Aligning everyone isn’t always easy, but it’s essential — meaningful innovation only happens when we work as a team. Turning ideas into real-world impact is truly a shared effort.
- What inspired you to pursue a career in science?
I was fascinated from the moment I learned about the complexity of a single cell and how countless tiny processes work together to create something much bigger. The more I learned about biology, the more amazed I became by how many reactions happen in our bodies simultaneously — and how a single change can lead to serious disease. At the same time, it’s incredible to realize how often everything functions exactly as it should, and that balance is what continues to inspire me in science.
- What do you wish more people understood about your field?
I wish more people understood that developing reliable biological systems takes time. Even with advanced technologies and resources, processes like cell line development can’t simply be rushed — cells follow their own biology. Respecting that pace is essential to building stable, high-quality outcomes in science.
- What future innovation or discovery excites you the most?
I’m excited about how lab technologies are becoming more connected, linking sample preparation, processing, data capture, and analysis into seamless workflows. This integration reduces errors and variability while allowing scientists to focus more on experimental design and interpretation rather than manual logistics. It’s a step toward making advanced science more efficient, reproducible, and accessible.
- What advice would you give to girls and young women interested in science?
You don’t have to feel completely ready before taking on something new — most people don’t. Apply for the opportunity, ask your questions, and put yourself forward for projects even if it feels a little intimidating. Confidence often grows after you take that first step, not before.
Svenja Plesshoff
Senior Scientist & Project Manager
- What is your job at SCIENION?
I’m a Senior Scientist and Project Manager in SCIENION’s R&D team. My work focuses on developing protocols and workflows for our customers, particularly in the areas of biofunctionalization and process upscaling of diagnostic sensors, using sciFLEXARRAYER-based platforms.
- Why do you like it?
What I really enjoy is the diversity of tasks I get to do every day: I work with many different diagnostic platforms, technologies, and methods, from early assay development to scalable microdispensing workflows used in manufacturing environments, and I constantly learn new things. I also appreciate working closely with interdisciplinary and international teams, both with my colleagues and our customers.
- Which BICO value best represents your work, and why?
That’s a tough one, because our work really requires all of them: At the start of a project, collaboration and trust are essential to build a strong partnership. As the project progresses, focus and grit become especially important to turn ideas into successful outcomes.
- What inspired you to pursue a career in science?
It actually started with my chemistry teacher. He was fun, motivating, and made the subject truly interesting. I went on to study chemical engineering and later had the opportunity to expand my experience into biochemistry joining a biotech company.
- What do you wish more people understood about your field?
I think many people see science as a collection of established facts, but in reality it’s a dynamic process. There’s a lot of testing, questioning, and revising along the way. Progress often comes with setbacks and ups and downs – that is what makes scientific work so interesting!
- What future innovation or discovery excites you the most?
I’m particularly excited about point-of-care devices, especially as advances in precise microdispensing make it possible to bring complex assays closer to patients. They can improve personalized healthcare by delivering faster results directly where they’re needed. Being part of the process of developing and bringing innovative technologies to market is very motivating for me. - What advice would you give to girls and young women interested in science?
I would say: go for it! Follow what you’re passionate about, and don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t belong. Believe in your skills and keep going. We need to empower women in science—because we definitely need more of them.
At BICO, we are proud of the women pushing our technologies, science, and mission forward every day. Their stories inspire the next generation of scientists and remind us why diverse voices are essential to building a better future.
