Kristin Schultz-Kuszak

Kristin Schultz-Kuszak loves applying analytical chemistry methods to study biological systems. This passion was kindled at Lawrence University where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in Chemistry and minoring in Psychology. She then joined Robert Kennedy’s lab at the University of Michigan. Her Ph D thesis work focused on utilizing Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) to study neurotransmitter release to elucidate the mechanism behind sex differences in drug addiction. After graduation, she took a Post Doc position at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Tony Shippenberg’s lab to apply her CE background to study withdrawal and neuropathic pain. Quickly she realized that she found more joy in helping others run the CE instrument than executing the animal studies. She then took a position at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA as a Commissioner’s Fellow. This fellowship gave her the opportunity to do laboratory research and regulatory review. After reading one too many generic drug applications, she realized that she wanted to get back into the lab. She then took a job at Medimmune (now AstraZeneca) in the Physical-chemical Methods Development group where she learned all the electro methods. Capillary Isoelectric Focusing (cIEF) became her favorite method and she quickly became the go-to person for all things related to cIEF. Currently, she is the lead Electrophoresis subject matter expert at AstraZeneca and she also serves as the Analytical representative on several chemistry, manufacturing, and control teams.