Get to know… Charlène & Stéphanie!

Both hold PhDs in Biology—Charlène specializes in Reproductive Biology, while Stéphanie’s expertise lies in Virology and equine reproduction. They joined IMV Technologies five years ago and started their journey together in the Research & Development (R&D) department. Today, Stéphanie leads projects in R&D, while Charlène is part of the Field Application team, working closely with IMV’s commercial team. Together, they’re driving innovation and ensuring our products and processes deliver the best experience for our customers! 

‘We both have a lot of experience in semen analysis and in the reproduction of equine, bovine, porcine and various other species in general,’ says Stéphanie. ‘At IMV, we create innovative, high-quality products, and we support customers in using these products and including them in their processes. We are present in the field to support customers and validate products in real-life conditions. To ensure high quality, we follow a rigorous product validation process in the field.’

How innovative products are developed and field validation works 

Stéphanie is primarily involved in the early stages of new product development. She gathers input from the marketing department or generates ideas based on customer feedback. Then, she works on creating a product. 

‘R&D is like cooking. To create a new cake recipe (e.g.: a semen preservation medium), we can either rely on existing recipes (e.g.: scientific studies published in journals) or start from scratch. We then seek to improve these recipes by adding or changing ingredients, their qualities and quantities. We also collaborate with research institutes to help us develop even more innovative products,’ explains Charlène. 

As an R&D project manager, Stéphanie brings together members from various IMV Technologies departments such as marketing, research and development, supply chain, manufacturing and sales, to build a project team. Together, they work on developing a new idea (e.g., a new semen preservation medium) until proof of concept is achieved. Once this is obtained, field trials are set up with Charlène’s “Field Application” team and partner customers. 

‘We set up and rigorously monitor the field validation trials with our partner customers to simulate real conditions of use,’ Charlène explains. ‘Once the protocol is written, we run the trial, collect the data, analyze it, and use the results to produce scientific articles or marketing materials like flyers.’

Field support 

Customers occasionally encounter difficulties with a product or process. In such cases, the Field Application team, sometimes supported by R&D staff, visits to assist, identify the problem, and work on finding the root cause. 

The problem may be linked to incorrect product usage, poor integration into the process, environmental factors impacting product conditions, lack of employee training, and so on. 

Stéphanie and Charlène visiting the Netherlands! 

Led by our colleague Corine, Stéphanie and Charlène will visit the Netherlands on October 30 and 31. They’re excited to check in with our customers, with a primary focus on equine applications. They hope to gain inspiration and discuss how reproductive methods differ within the country and between countries, as well as explore how our products can be used in different ways. They’re also eager to learn about new needs that can inspire the development of future products and ideas.