Alessandro Granata

Your scientific journey

My journey with chemistry began in high school: I graduated as chemical expert at ITIS Cardano, in Pavia (Lombardy, Italy). After that, going to University was a natural choice: I graduated in Inorganic Chemistry at University of Pavia. My path continued with a 3-year doctorate in Chemical Sciences and eventually with some months as a research fellow.

How did I end up at LabAnalysis? Well, Luigino Maggi (our founder, ed) was my University professor. I think we all passed through him, one way or another (*laughs*). He asked me to join as soon as I graduated, but – as I said – I wanted to continue with the PhD. So, when he had contacted me again, three years later, I immediately said yes. I was actually very tempted to become an academic, to continue with research and maybe go into teaching… but it was definitely not the right time: University had very little funding, researchers’ positions were too precarious, there were no proper inspirations..
I entered in LabAnalysis a bit on tiptoe, but it is one of the best choices I’ve ever made: I liked instantly the workplace and colleagues, I got hooked by my role and I’m now very happy with my decision.

When I think I wanted to be a fireman, as a child, I have to smile. Actually, in the end I found an outlet in the rescue field: I’ve been a 118 volunteer rescuer for almost 20 years. I have a fixed role on ambulances and I’m proud to have become a regional instructor with out-of-hospital rescue qualification: for years I have held lessons for new rescuers and first aid courses for the community. In this way I have also found a way to teach! Of course, I do it in my spare time.

What do you do at LabAnalysis?

I’ve been involved in chemical analytics for more than 13 years. I started as laboratory operator in the R&D area. I slowly gained more and more trust from the Management and I now work as VQC (Vice Quality Control) in the Pharma team. I manage several groups, on different work areas with pharmaceutical activities. I mainly deal with method validations, forced degradations studies, leachables and extractables. And more generally everything regarding R&D.

For a long time, I’ve worked between office and lab, but now is only lab . When I’m in the lab it’s in order to solve critical analytical issues and to access data I can’t from my desk. Manual lab work, with a lab coat I mean, it’s not my task since several years. And I must admit that I miss it…

What do you like about your job?

I like it to be different every day, with different and challenging problems to be solved. I like to be able to interact with the Customer, supplying competences and continuous support, right from the beginning in the project management, to evaluate offers with the sales staff, to follow all the experimental phases with the lab and to provide final data and reports. I also like there’s not just one big project at a time, but several projects carried out simultaneously.

Another aspect that I really enjoy is the awareness of doing something useful and concrete. Our projects are not just analyses but allow useful data collection for the market and for product placement or for Customer solving process. It is such a great satisfaction to find in the newspapers an article about the success of a product you helped to launch!

COVID-19, was it hard to handle?

In part, yes. I’ve been smartworking for very little. My work requires presence. Not so much in the lab, but in the office to coordinate different projects, to follow up on activities, to monitor data in real time, collect data to handle Customer calls in order to sign up papers – and it would have been impossible from home.

The difficulties brought by COVID-19 made harder to work especially with clients. Until January (2020, ed) there were lots of meetings, especially here at the headquarters: we met to talk about a project and, all together from the desk, we tried to carry it out. Now we have remote meetings. It’s also been a nice surprise, because we used very little in the company. In the end, you gained time: less time spent in welcome phase, coffee break, chatting… and it’s all punctuated by calendar schedules. Let’s say it was a bit complicated at first, but in the end it’s an advantage. A different way of handling client meetings has emerged and I find it beneficial. In my humble opinion, it should be kept in the post-COVID-19.

Related to colleagues? It’s a bit more complicated. Meetings, which were really useful, are now very limited: it is quite impossible to be together in front of the same desktop for data analysis. This has led to many more emails and chats.

What's the most important lesson you've learned as a Manager?

Definitely the ability to manage myself and take responsibility, for better or worse. I represent LabAnalysis in front of Clients. The success of a project, in agreed delivery time , or the Client satisfaction  is up to me and my work.

Secondly, the ability to coordinate one or more work teams. In my case, we’re talking about 4 separate groups, with a total of 15 people. Each one works in a different field: those who deal with method validation of pharma studies, those with R&D, those with extractables and leachable  on packaging and those with biological activities.
The Management course gave me the opportunity to take taught me a lot. It provided me basis for a better management of my work and relationships with my collaborators.

I realized that in the past I had made mistakes in communicating with my team, or that I had not considered some aspects or points of view different from my own. A world opened up to me about interacting differently with my colleagues. And I’m trying to put it into practice. It’s very difficult, but definitely worth it.

The Management course is a stage in my professional growth path, which began 13 years ago in Labanalysis and which I hope will still give me a lot of satisfaction.

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