Pierre Negri

What entices forensic investigators? Pierre has the answer. Find out how he works with other criminalistics and forensic toxicologists to develop innovative solutions.

“I have the opportunity to be part of new scientific innovations at SCIEX and share the vision and passion with our customers to keep moving the industry forward.”


What do you do at SCIEX?

 

"I work in the global technical marketing team and am responsible for creating scientific content for the forensic market at SCIEX. In my current role, I develop and promote mass spectrometry-based workflows in criminalistics and forensic toxicology pertaining to controlled substances and trace evidence analysis to address market needs. My position at SCIEX is focused on creating technical content to support promotion of SCIEX instruments in the forensic market. Holding this position is a great opportunity to showcase the innovative portfolio of instruments and how they can be used to answer some of the most challenging forensic workflows."


How would you describe what you do at SCIEX to your family and friends?

 

"I typically tell them that I work in the “biotech industry” and that I am responsible for creating scientific content for a capital equipment company that sells a widely used analytical technology across many industries. Their initial reaction is one of perplexity or intrigue but I usually follow up by explaining that our technology is used across a variety of industries such as pharma, food, environmental, cannabis, life sciences, clinical science, forensic toxicology, etc. to detect low levels of molecules and contaminants that are critical to people’s health and safety. What is so exciting about having these conversations is that I can draw from a myriad of examples on how our technology is used to solve problems that they can directly relate to. Having these conversations with my family and friends makes me realize how powerful this technology has become over the years and how it’s enabled scientists to better understand the world we live in."


What are some of the biggest advancements in the forensic field?

 

"The forensic market, and more specifically the field of forensic toxicology is constantly evolving, with novel psychoactive substances (NPS) and other synthetic drugs dramatically shifting the landscape of the drug market. Forensic toxicology laboratories need to adapt to these constantly evolving challenges and develop robust workflows that enable identification of these new substances flooding the drug market. Those laboratories also need to implement new methodologies to detect and identify metabolites and biomarkers for confirmation of the presence of drugs that are undetectable using current techniques. Working with our collaborators, SCIEX is constantly innovating and developing new products and software solutions that enable the development and implementation of new methodologies that enable accurate identification and quantification of these new substances with a high level of sensitivity and specificity. This is a very exciting part of my role, to work with other researchers in this field to advance the LC-MS solutions to keep pace with the always evolving forensic field."

What does a typical day look like?

 

"I generally split my days between the lab and my desk. I spend a lot of time in our tech marketing lab working on the development of new forensic workflows and assays using SCIEX instruments. When I’m not in the lab, I am usually busy processing the data and creating the scientific content (technical notes, presentations, podcasts, blogs, technology articles, etc.) to support campaigns aimed at highlighting the use of SCIEX technology and software solutions for the forensic market. I work hand in hand with the regional and global marketing team members to provide the necessary technical materials to showcase the performance of our systems to researchers in the forensic field. I am also responsible for fostering and managing collaborations with forensic researchers to develop novel workflows based on emerging trends and global market needs. "

What are some of the hobbies or activities you enjoy when you are away from the office?

 

"Having grown up in the French Alps, I have always been an outdoors enthusiast, whether it is camping, hiking, mountain biking or skiing during the winter. I am lucky enough to now live in California where I have access to beautiful national parks, recreational areas and an incredible coastline to explore and I try to take advantage of that whenever I can. I also enjoy traveling and experiencing different cultures. Traveling pushes you outside your comfort zone, helps you break barriers that are holding you back and brings so much awareness to different lifestyles. I always come back from my travels with new inspiration, perspectives and awareness, which is so valuable for life in general."


How do you see MS technology advancing in the future?

 

"Over the past two decades, LC-MS has transitioned from being a specialized technique to a mainstream analytical method that is considered the gold standard for analytical quantification of molecules. This technology has evolved and enabled the development of workflows with levels of sensitivity and specificity that are seldom matched by any other techniques. What has been fascinating during this journey was to witness how researchers have harnessed the benefits of this technique to open new avenues and make advancements in their research. Working in the technical marketing team at SCIEX has given me the opportunity to be a part of this journey, so far seeing the technology evolve, promoting its performance through scientific content development and witnessing its adoption in new market areas. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing how our incredible product and software solutions enable scientists all over the globe to answer some of their most challenging analytical problems."


What have been some of your favorite projects to work on at SCIEX?

 

"I recently had the opportunity to be part of the team responsible for the launch of our latest nominal mass platform; the SCIEX Triple Quad™ 7500 LC-MS/MS System – QTRAP® Ready. In preparation for the launch of the system, I was tasked to manage and coordinate all the scientific content generation activities to promote the new technical features and hardware innovations responsible for the improved performance and sensitivity of the instrument. I worked in collaboration with my peers on the global technical marketing team as well as other applications scientists in different regions to execute key projects highlighting the benefits of the new systems for various market verticals. This experience allowed me to work in collaboration with many cross functional teams within the organization. In particular, I worked closely with the global strategic marketing team to create a global marketing campaign, highlighting the benefits of the sensitivity and robustness of the new system across many different applications. It was exciting work as it felt like putting the pieces together of a giant puzzle that we were ultimately able to complete on time for launch. This was personally a great experience and being part of the whole process taught me valuable insights on what it takes to successfully bring a new product to market. "


What excites you about your role here at SCIEX?

 

"Being part of the global technical marketing team puts me at the forefront of the forensic trends where I get to witness the evolution of the market. I get to see firsthand the challenges that researchers are faced with in their laboratories and get to collaborate with them to develop creative and innovate solutions using our technology. In my current role, I have the opportunity to be part of new scientific innovations at SCIEX and share the vision and passion of other researchers in the forensic field to keep moving the industry forward. I work hand in hand with many team members of the LC-MS business unit to translate our innovations into real-world applications that are helping forensic scientists advance human wellness and safety. Every day brings new challenges and opportunities that are keeping me on my toes! "

What are some of the recent applications, publications or collaborations you have worked on?

 

"I have been collaborating with Prof. Alberto Salomone and his team at the “Alessandro Bertinaria” Regional Anti-Doping Center (CAD) where we have been working to develop and implement new MS-based screening methods using the capabilities of the X500R QTOF System. Since serving as the official testing laboratory for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, the laboratory has changed its focus to applied analysis and research into the use of drugs of abuse, novel psychoactive substances (NPS), doping substances and alcohol. Over the past two years, we have been collaborating closely to design novel high-resolution workflows to gain further insight into doping in sports and recreational use, to detect a wide range of prohibited substances in biological matrices such as blood, urine and hair that impact the integrity of sports and public health. The instrument is also being used in more exploratory projects such as screening for metabolites as potential markers of chronic use of steroids or fentanyl. This collaboration has been extremely insightful and rewarding as we created exciting new data that will hopefully advance for the forensic toxicology market. "

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