There is one skill you won’t find listed in any job description: expertise in the acoustic diagnosis of machinery. Since 2021, Alicia has been overseeing the SO Ferm analysis suite and its fleet of around twenty instruments: HPLC¹, gas chromatography, mass spectrometers — and she is learning to distinguish between their normal hum and the squeaking that signals a breakdown. This ability to listen – both literally and figuratively – is perhaps what best defines her profession: patience, a knack for explaining things and technical curiosity, which she herself cites as the cornerstones of her work.
Originally from Perpignan, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in physics and chemistry, Alicia went on to complete a master’s degree in analytical chemistry and instrumentation at the University of Toulouse (formerly Paul Sabatier). She then moved on to the National Veterinary School of Toulouse (ENVT), where she spent two years tracking bisphenols and antibiotics in human and animal biological matrices. In October 2021, an INRAE open competition led her to TBI: she took charge of the analytical facility at SO Ferm, seeing the number of instruments under her responsibility increase from two to around twenty.
Her day-to-day work involves both technical skills and passing on knowledge. She prefers to ensure that every PhD student and trainee becomes self-reliant, even if it means devoting the equivalent of thirteen weeks’ training a year to them. She teaches them to analyse a chromatogram critically and to spot any bias before it skews a result.
This patience is evident even in her leisure activities: Alicia loves tinkering and figuring out how things work, whether it’s DIY or arts and crafts. This goes some way towards confirming, even outside the lab, her reputation as the woman who whispers in machines’ ears.
- Chromatographie Liquide à Haute Performance