The company wishes to remain undisclosed for security.
Manufacture and R&D in Radio-Nuclear Science Equipment
My main focus was developing a new version of an application re-written in C# (winforms). The application was used in radio-nuclear science. This included specification, development and help files. Developing interface modules to communicate with different equipment using RS232, TCP/IP, access databases and file parsing. Supporting customers and installations on-site. New features were added to the application on a continuing basis. With multiple high-value deployments to customer sites. The software has been handed over to a new support programmer as the design and implementation has moved to long term support. During development I also supported customers.
The role included:
- Coding in C#.NET, SQL and validation
- Customer installations and support
The main application used C# with DevExpress controls. There was an internal control used for chromatograms that were bolted into the C# application as there was a lot of signal processing already working and validated over some length of time. The software ran in environments alongside radioactive materials. The software included radioactivity values being logged and calculations based on these values. The application is very large incorporating a large number of features and can support full manufacturing traceability and processes.
Just note, the products manufactured are for human injection for cancer scans and the radioactivity is very low level and a very short half-life of only hours. There are very strict rules to make sure these injections are safe and not going to cause injury or long term damage. The manufacturing labs use electronic equipment for testing the injections for patient safety. (No animal testing, as testing would not even be possible because of the short life span of the radioactive isotopes used. The time between manufacture and delivery has to be very short, sometimes within hours.) The software that manages the process is rigorously tested both by the company I worked for and the partner companies too. The software works well but was moving to long term support, meaning that design has come to an end and moving towards more pure support work. Other products will be up-and-coming.
The company’s R&D is electronic equipment and software and did involve scientists using physics and radiochemistry theory. Their lab does not have any animal testing, or any need to do so.
A 3rd party example of a chromatogram here. In this software package, this concept is used for showing chemical analysis of fluids and is used to check for contaminates. Other methods are used to check a variety of safety-related issues that can affect the product being produced.
There was a really lovely team of people with a very friendly family atmosphere. We worked closely with the sales executive and customers on our software to keep the focus on the customer’s needs.
It’s not nice to see someone dying of cancer and this job really helped me feel a part of the battle. My step mum died of cancer whilst I was working on the software that helps hospitals receive their tracer test injections required for cancer scans.