About

Hello, I’m Harrison Specht! I am a scientist using my training in chemistry, mass spectrometry and data science to satisfy my curiosity about biology. Currently, I am a co-founder at Parallel Squared Technology Institute (PTI). Previously, I was a post-doctoral researcher in the Slavov Laboratory at Northeastern University where I created single cell proteomics methods both experimental and computational.

My research

I develop methods for measuring the abundance of proteins in single cells. Why is this cool? Proteins perform computation! I observe coordinated changes in protein abundances in many single cells to understand their decision making processes in healthy and diseased states.

My background and history

I received my Ph.D. with Prof. Nikolai Slavov at Northeastern University and my B.A. in Chemistry at Cornell University. Between my bachelor’s degree and PhD., I was at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard as a Research Assistant in the Proteomic Platform. Additionally, I’ve done environmental mass spectrometry on tar from oil spills at the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences and co-ops at Merck Exploratory Sciences and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

My entrepreneurial directions

I want to use proteomics technology to make a difference for patients and the environment. One vehicle for doing this will be forming companies with the explicit directive of developing proteomics technology to solve a problem in disease or the effects of climate change. I completed the NSF I-Corps Program at Northeastern University and was awarded $10,000 for prototype development and customer discovery. The work was further supported by The AM Prototype Scholarship from the D’Amore-McKim School of Business and NUCEE.