Marije Booman
Senior Research Scientist (ONDA)
What is your name and what do you do here?
My name is Marije Booman and I’m a Senior Research Scientist in Aquatic Animal Health at Onda.
What do you like about the work that you do?
It’s quite varied coming from an academic background where we work on long projects that are long running. Here, we work with a lot of different clients, a lot of different types of projects, a lot of different species of fish, a lot of different species of pathogen, new things every day. The projects are shorter and results oriented.
What did you do for work or school before coming here?
I’m originally from Holland and I started my career in immunology, and so initially worked with fish and I took a sidetrack to work in human cancer research where I did my PhD, but decided that I wanted to go back to fish and found my way through Newfoundland and BC and then here.
Tell me about a typical day of work. When does it start and what kind of duties are you?
For me, as a senior research scientist, I am here as a supportive role for our study directors. The study directors here run the studies and have the overview. They prepare the protocols, they analyze the data, they make sure everything goes smoothly. Then we have our team of research assistants and they’re back there with the fish every day taking care of sampling activities. They prepare for sampling activities, they do fish husbandry, and yeah, a lot of sample prep and collecting and everything else that we need to do. A lot of paperwork as well that needs to be processed.
What would you tell someone who is curious about working here?
I would tell them that the biggest part that I really like is the variation and you learn a lot of things. We’re not a very big company, which is great because everybody has personal attention and we’re working as a whole group towards the same goal, so everybody’s always willing to help out and there’s a lot of opportunities just for internal training and for learning a lot of new things. Every time we have a new trial, we learn something new.
Are there any other positions in this company that you could see yourself doing in the future?
I started here as a postdoc and a study director, and I’ve kind of moved into this more senior role, which I really like because I’ve been here for eight years, so there’s a lot of experience in my mind and a lot of knowledge in my mind from previous things that are really helpful. I really like this role at this point, and I think this is where I shine.
What is the coolest or best thing about what you do here that the average person wouldn’t know?
I think it’s working with new treatments, new feeds, new species. Sometimes we have really cool fish species here that you come in and everybody comes in and looks at the new fish and sometimes they’re so cute and sometimes they’re weird looking. It’s really nice to see. But yeah, just working with a lot of novel things and knowing that you’re working in the industry and the background of what’s going on, and usually you only see the outcome, but just knowing the research that goes on behind it and knowing what we’re working on and what we’re trying to improve, I think that I really liked that.
Awesome. How did you hear about this job?
A former colleague of mine called me. He worked here and at one point and he said, “Hey, we have an opening if you’re interested.” I was in BC at the time, and I did the math, and that’s how I ended up here.
Anything else you wanted to add?
No. I would say if you’re looking for a job in aquaculture, I really like it. It’s satisfying to work with so many clients and just seeing the projects we take them through. The result is a commercial product being out there in the market. It’s really, really satisfying.