Tom Plasterer on Going From Pharma to Start-Up, Graph Technology, and More
August 27, 2024
In this episode of Trends from the Trenches, host Stan Gloss speaks with industry veteran Tom Plasterer, managing director of life sciences innovation at XponentL Data. Plasterer shares his journey of how he became an industry leader, how his time at BG Medicine (then known as Beyond Genomics) helped him with his time at AstraZeneca, what graph technology is and its benefits, and why he returned to start-up companies with XponentL Data. He also gives advice based on his 20+ years of experience in the field to up and coming scientists following in his tracks.
Tom Plasterer, PhD, Managing Director Knowledge Graph and FAIR Data Capability, XponentL Data
As a scientist, technologist and data advocate, Dr. Plasterer has pursued interests in bioinformatics, systems biology, biomarker discover and data stewardship over the last twenty years in both industry and academia. He co-founded PanGenX (a Personalized Medicine/Pharmacogenetics Knowledge Base start-up), directed Project Planning and Data Interpretation at BG Medicine, and championed Data Centricity, FAIR Data and Knowledge Graph efforts across multiple roles in both IT and science business units over the last twelve years at AstraZeneca.
Dr. Plasterer recently joined XponentL Data to lead their Knowledge Graph and FAIR Data Capability. In this role Tom set strategy and implements cutting edge applications of FAIR data, Knowledge Graphs and Generative AI for the life science and health care industries. Tom also co-founded the Pistoia Alliance FAIR Data Implementation group and serves on the Pistoia Alliance FAIR data advisory board.
Host Bio
Stan Gloss
As co-founder and Evangelist of BioTeam, Stan Gloss has been working to tell the stories of the intersection of science, data and technology since 2002. Gloss joined with fellow founding partners Bill Van Etten and Chris Dagdigian to form BioTeam in 2002 following his tenure in business development with AVAKI Corporation, a pioneer in global grid software solutions, and Blackstone Computing, a computing and IT consulting company for scientists, Gloss led the sales initiative that launched the company in the life sciences market. Gloss earned his MS at the University of Buffalo and was a department chairman and faculty member at Quinnipiac University.
A life science IT consulting firm at the intersection of science, data, and technology, BioTeam builds innovative scientific data ecosystems that close the gap between what scientists want to do with data—and what they can do. Learn more at www.bioteam.net.