Dr. Samantha Nicholson is a commercial specialist in the application and development of advanced cell systems. She completed her PhD in Molecular Biology at the University of Cape Town in 2012 and then went on to complete two postdoctoral fellowships centred around the application of genome engineering technologies (CRISPR/ZFN and TALEN) to treat infectious diseases such as HIV and HBV. These experiences provided Dr. Nicholson with just over a decade of expertise in both cell and molecular biology allowing her to join Merck in 2017 as the specialist for Africa and the Middle East for advanced genomics, molecular biology, and cell culture, where she focused on protocol and assay development, as well as skills acquisition for cutting-edge technologies including CRISPR-Cas9 and siRNA across this region. After just over five years supporting this developing market Dr. Nicholson was promoted to the position of Global Technical Application and Process Improvement Specialist for genome engineering at Merck Life Sciences. In this role, she continued to drive the adoption of CRISPR technologies and advanced modeling at a global scale. Dr. Nicholson has since transitioned into her current role as Global Technical Marketing Manager for Cell Culture Workflows at Merck, where she focuses on supporting the growth and adoption of advanced modelling and cell culture techniques to create better disease models, advance drug discovery, and develop more precise and effective cell-based therapies. Dr. Nicholson's expertise and passion make her an interesting speaker and a trusted resource for many groups around the world.