I can tell if you have taken drugs, from your urine and hair

Hilda’s colleagues would describe her as someone who displays the spirit of learning. Seeing that some of the laboratory processes were repetitive and time-consuming, she took it upon herself to pick up programming skills to automate the processes, reducing the time taken for the process from 30 minutes to less than a minute. She tells us more about her job and her motivations.

1. What do you do at the Drugs Abuse Testing Lab?

My main role is to conduct routine testing for drugs of abuse in urine and hair samples submitted by law enforcement agencies.

2. How did you get into this job at HSA? 

I prefer doing lab work instead of deskbound work, and hence took up chemistry in school. Lab work allows me to move around and I find it more interesting.

This is my first job since I joined HSA in 2013.  I chose to join HSA as it is a well-established organisation for scientific work.

3. What’s your daily work like?

Besides routine testing, I am also given the opportunity to be involved in the method development works to improve laboratory capability and workflow. Previously, I have developed and validated the screening of cannabinoids in hair using ELISA and the method was successfully launched for routine testing in March 2019.  I am currently developing a method to automate the hair sample preparation steps using a pulverizer and to combine multiple drugs analysis into a single platform.

4. The main sample you work with is urine. What was your first impression?

At the start, I did have some reservations but I wanted to join HSA, thus I decided to give it a try. After joining the lab, my concerns regarding issues such as safety were addressed adequately as we work with the biological samples in biosafety cabinets and are well-protected with proper personal protective equipment.

 

5. How is testing hair for drugs different from testing urine?

Hair analysis is different from that of urine testing as it provides the history of drug abuse from months to years. When hair testing for drugs of abuse was implemented in May 2014, I was among the first batch of officers trained and authorised to perform routine hair testing after passing all the competency tests.

6. Tell us about the macro project you worked on to automate testing.

I found some work processes to be tedious and repetitive resulting in the urge to improve on the process. Macros can aid in automating repetitive tasks. I read up and learnt about it through various platforms such as YouTube and Google. Besides self-learning through online courses, HSA also gave me the opportunity to attend IT related courses to better understand and comprehend the basics of macro. The macro project was well received by my colleagues and they were appreciative and grateful for the effort made.

It felt good and encouraging to see that automating the process has helped the lab by improving process efficiency. Sometimes, my colleagues would request if I could explore to automate other parts of work processes and I am excited to take up the challenge to work on something that helps to improve and enhance the processes.

7. How do you juggle your studies and your work?

My colleagues are very helpful and supportive, always helping me out when needs arise. I am also thankful that my colleagues are more than willing to share their expertise, allowing me to improve my knowledge and skills.

 

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