Alum Zoom with Zehra Parlak, PhD, Founder and Acting CEO at QATCH Technologies

On Apr 6, our guest is Zehra Parlak, PhD, Founder and Acting CEO at QATCH Technologies.

QATCH Technologies is founded upon a technology developed at Duke University by Dr. Stefan Zauscher, Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, and Dr. Zehra Parlak, a postdoctoral researcher at Zauscher Lab. Upon realizing the potential of the invention, Dr. Parlak founded QATCH Technologies in 2016. QATCH Technologies is developing a pre-screening tool for biopharmaceutical drug discovery. The proprietary technology can determine if a formulation is injectable or if there will be viscosity related manufacturing problem at very early stages.

Zehra received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and her BSEE from Bilkent University in Turkey.

5 QUESTIONS:

1. Could you tell us about your background?
2. How did you get your job at your organization?
3. What's a typical day like at your organization, pre- and post-COVID?
4. What can postdocs and students who would like to work in this field (or explore it further) do to prepare?
5. What is the employment outlook for this field, given the COVID crisis? (please note that the answer to this question may be "We don't know yet.")