Zac VanAernum is a Senior Scientist in the Analytical Research & Development group at Merck & Co., Inc. based in Kenilworth, NJ. He obtained his B.S. in Chemistry with a concentration in Biochemistry (2014) from St. John Fisher College (Rochester, NY) and Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry (2020) from The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH) under the guidance of Professor Vicki Wysocki. His graduate research focused on the development of instrumentation and non-denaturing separation methods for the study of non-covalent protein complexes by native mass spectrometry. At Merck, Zac’s work focuses on the characterization of biotherapeutics (mAbs, ADCs, fusion proteins) using both routine and novel liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) methods, the result of which has impacted several regulatory filings. He has a passion for evaluating and implementing new mass spectrometry methods and working cross-functionally to solve challenging pipeline problems including analysis of PTMs, glycosylation, aggregation, and other quality attributes related to biotherapeutic development.