Ian Whitmore - Field Applications Scientist

What do you do at SPT Labtech?

Ian Whitmore is an Applications Development Scientist within SPT Labtech’s Applications Development Team. In his role, Ian develops and validates automated workflows on firefly^®, working closely with reagent and kit manufacturers to ensure their assays run seamlessly on the platform. He helps create ready-to-use protocols that can be downloaded from the firefly community, and application and technical notes that are available on the SPT Labtech website.

How did your path lead you here?

Ian studied Human Biology at Loughborough University, and graduated with a First-Class Honors degree, before building a career rooted firmly in laboratory science and genomics. Since graduating, he has worked across forensic science, academic research, and large-scale genomics environments, including roles at the Sanger Institute and the Institute of Cancer Research.

Throughout his career, Ian gained extensive experience with DNA sequencing, library preparation, and automation. He was already familiar with the SPT Labtech’s mosquito^® as a user before joining the company, making his move into Applications Development a natural next step.

What does a typical day look like?

Ian spends much of his time developing and optimizing genomics workflows on firefly and firefly+, including library preparation, target enrichment, normalization, and quantification protocols. He collaborates with leading kit providers such as Roche, Agilent and Illumina to bring powerful automated workflows to firefly, delivering a smoother more intuitive experience for users. These ready-to-use workflows are available on the firefly community alongside application and technical notes – empowering scientists to accelerate discovery and innovation.

As part of the Applications team, Ian acts as an “internal customer,” using both the software and hardware exactly as end users would. This allows him to provide early feedback on new features, identify issues before release, and collaborate closely with software developers, hardware engineers, service teams, and product groups to help shape future improvements.

What’s the best part of your job?

Ian enjoys working with cutting-edge technology and being among the first to test new features and system updates. The variety of the role, from evolving workflows to new kit collaborations, keeps things fresh and challenging.

He also values the collaborative team environment at SPT Labtech, where sharing ideas, asking questions, and solving problems together are actively encouraged.

How are you making a difference at SPT Labtech?

For Ian, making a difference means helping scientists work more efficiently and consistently. Automation enables researchers to scale experiments, improve consistency, and confidently reproduce results.

By helping deliver robust, validated workflows on firefly, Ian plays a role in ensuring scientists can focus less on repetitive lab work and more on the research.

What does life outside the lab look like?

Outside of work, Ian enjoys staying active by playing and watching soccer, as well as following American football. He’s also an enthusiastic board game fan and even helped set up a monthly board game group with colleagues at SPT Labtech.

Most of his free time, though, is spent with family and friends, especially keeping up with his two young daughters, who ensure life outside the lab is never quiet.