What do you do at SPT Labtech?
As a Field Application Scientist at SPT Labtech, Baylea Davenport helps customers get the most from their automation solutions by providing training, demonstrations and workflow support. Based in the US, she works across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, helping scientists implement applications and optimize workflows on their instruments. Currently, she primarily supports the firefly® platform, while expanding her expertise across other SPT Labtech technologies.
How did your path lead you here?
Baylea completed both her PhD and postdoctoral research at the University of Florida. During her academic career, she worked closely alongside several Field Application Scientists and quickly became interested in the role they played in helping researchers succeed.
"I always liked helping other people in the lab with their science, even more than I liked doing my own science."
The opportunity to combine scientific expertise with teaching and customer support made becoming a Field Application Scientist a natural next step.
Interestingly, Baylea comes from a largely manual laboratory background and had limited exposure to automation before joining SPT Labtech. Having experienced the challenges of time-consuming manual workflows firsthand, she has a strong appreciation for the impact automation can have on laboratory productivity.
What does a typical day look like?
No two days are the same. Baylea spends around 75% of her time working directly with customers, delivering demonstrations, conducting training sessions and helping researchers get new applications up and running, both remotely and on-site. The remainder of her time is spent developing protocols, preparing training materials and collaborating with colleagues.
Although much of her role is customer-facing, staying connected with the wider team is an important part of the job. In fact, one of the biggest surprises for Baylea since joining SPT Labtech has been just how collaborative the company is.
Coming into a largely remote role, she expected to work quite independently. Instead, she discovered a highly connected global team where Field Application Scientists, sales associates and engineers work closely together to support each other and customers.
"Going into a remote job, I expected it to be very much that I was on my own. But we actually work really closely with each other between all the FASs, the sales associates and the engineers. If there's ever a question I have, there are 10 people to answer it for me."
For Baylea, this supportive network has been invaluable as she continues to learn and grow in her role, while ensuring customers always have access to the expertise they need.
What’s the best part of your job?
For Baylea, one of the most rewarding aspects of the role is the opportunity to see a huge variety of science in action.
From chemistry and biology to drug discovery and next-generation sequencing (NGS), she enjoys learning how researchers use SPT Labtech technologies to answer different scientific questions. In particular, she enjoys supporting RNA sequencing and other NGS workflows on firefly®.
Coming from a highly specialised academic background, she values the broader perspective her current role provides.
"You get a bigger picture of the science happening in the world with this job, and I really like that."
One milestone that stands out is delivering her first independent customer training. After shadowing experienced colleagues, taking ownership of a customer engagement and tailoring the experience to her own style was both challenging and rewarding.
How are you making a difference at SPT Labtech?
Baylea believes automation allows scientists to focus on discovery rather than repetitive laboratory tasks. By reducing the time spent on routine workflows, researchers can dedicate more effort to designing experiments, analysing results and exploring new ideas.
Success, for her, is seeing customers gain the confidence to use their instruments independently.
"If someone's never used automation before, just letting them do it themselves and being comfortable enough for me to leave and then still be able to do it is really fun to see."
She also sees automation playing a critical role in accelerating research. As laboratories increase throughput and reduce hands-on time, researchers can answer more complex questions and generate larger, more impactful datasets, particularly in areas such as NGS.