Meet the Eurofins Genomics Team

Get to know Eurofins Genomics. We are introducing the team!

The first edition introduces Stanislav Karnatsevych, who is a Senior Technical Assistant in the Next Generation Sequencing Team that is responsible for the execution of NGS for our customers; for example exome, microbiome, or metagenome sequencing. Here, Illumina platforms such as the NovaSeq6000 or HiSeq4000 are used, but also PacBio the 4th generation of NGS platforms for de novo sequencing.

Hi Stanislav, welcome to the interview.
Thank you. It’s great to be here.

What is your education?
I hold a master degree in biology from the University of Freiburg, Germany.

What motivates you at your work in the next generation sequencing team?
There are a couple of things that motivate me. The work environment is great. I get along very well with my colleagues and supervisor, and they are very competent in their jobs.
Eurofins Genomics is the European industry leader in the field of genomics and it is brilliant to be a part of it. There are a lot of people who would love to be here and do what I do. We also use the latest next generation sequencing platforms such as the Illumina NovaSeq6000, which is special.
Also, I know that what I am doing contributes to the research in many fields. It has practical application and eventually will be used to help people. I take pride in my work.

It can be stressful in the lab. How do you manage to keep your cool?
I would say I am stress-resistant by nature and don’t get worked up that easily. However, if it gets a little too stressful, I take five minutes break or so to take a deep breath. This seems to help me to clear my head. In the end, it is not worth getting upset because this is when mistakes happen.

What work advice would you give others?
Do not take things personal and do not vent your frustration on your colleagues! Count to 100 before you say something that you would not say if you are cool; it helps. A harmonious working atmosphere and functioning team account for at least 50% of the success, I would say. So strive for a good atmosphere.

Are there any funny aspects to your work?
There are quite a lot of funny things that happen and what comes to mind are our devices in the lab. Every device has a name. The underlying idea is to better communicate to the colleagues what device is talked about. Our Illumina platforms for example all have names from the Ice Age movies. The NovaSeq6000 is called Teddy, our HiSeq2500s are called Scrat, Elli, and Manny, and so on. Also, they all seem to have different characters. Teddy and Elli are very well-behaved, while Manny can be a bit moody sometimes, but with a little patience he will perform as great as the others.

Talking of sports, what’s your favorite?
Football! I am a big football fan. My favorite team is SC Freiburg (Germany) and I am a member of the club. It is the best football club there is. I am at almost every home game and at every second away game. Sometimes I play football myself, too. I also was a dancer for 11 years. I used to do folk dance, but nowadays I only dance at special occasions like the Eurofins Genomics Christmas party.

Thank you for giving us a little insight into your work and your life.
You are welcome. It was fun.