Eelco Meerdink

I have a background in biomedical research with 6 years of experience and expertise in business management developed in a Start-Up environment. I am passionate about critically reviewing scientific programs, finding their caveats, and helping them grow. This together contributes to my expertise in navigating the intersection of science and entrepreneurship.
Working as an application scientist specialist, I tailor projects to translate scientific programs into tangible business outcomes: eg. within 4 months, my strategic approach led from 0 to a projected revenue of 600k. Similarly, I helped a client unlocking a core goal, established a clear project path and enabled the team to achieve project targets – within 2 months, after a year of stagnation.
I have a good eye for identifying risks in the areas of management and employee well-being. Recently, I played a pivotal role in identifying and guiding a client through a significant misalignment between their communicated values and actual practices. By quantifying this discrepancy and devising a targeted action plan, I facilitated a cultural shift that not only aligns with the organization’s core values but also informs decision-making processes at every level.
With six years of experience in biomedical research, including a Master’s degree in Cancer Stem Cells Development, four years of doctoral research in computational biology focusing on sequencing and bioinformatics, and a research visit at the Doudna Lab to delve into Translation Regulation, I’ve specialized in developing protocols for mechanistic understanding of RNA biology. Notably, I employed CRISPR to decrease contaminants by 99.9%, resulting in a 50% reduction in sequencing costs. Also, I adapted long read sequencing protocols to be able to perform demultiplexing with direct-RNA samples, reducing cost by 75% per sample.
In summary, my multifaceted background, coupled with a sixth sense for the identification of risks, positions me as a seasoned expert in today’s biomedical landscape.