Sha'land Abbott-Torrao

Sha’land is Manager of Environmental Monitoring, Contamination Control & Microbial Cell Banking at Charles River Laboratories (PA-Biologics). She oversees the Environmental Monitoring and Cleaning operations at both of the PA-Biologics facilities as well as Microbial Cell Banking operations at Malvern facility. She has a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Penn State. During her time at Penn State, she worked in a Microbiology laboratory as an undergrad, where her passion for microorganisms flourished. Sha’land has been working at Charles River for 10 years, starting as a technician in the Molecular department. During her time as a technician, she deepened her knowledge and understanding of microorganisms; utilizing her skills to appropriately culture and characterize microbial cell lines. Her background in both Microbiology and Molecular Biology techniques, coupled with her experience over her 10 years with Charles River, has provided her experience in both generation and characterization of microbial cell banks. She has been overseeing the EM and Cleaning teams for 3 years and the microbial cell banking team at Charles River’s Pennsylvania sites for 2 years. Providing excellent custom service, exceptional quality, and collaborating with the clients to meet their needs is something of great value to Sha’land. She works to lead by example and foster a culture of quality within her team to ensure the best product possible is provided to our clients. While she never envisioned herself in a leadership role, watching the growth of all the members of her team is something she finds to be the most rewarding part of her role.

Sha’land’s background in both Microbiology and Molecular Biology techniques coupled with her experience over her 10 years with Charles River, has provided her experience in both generation and characterization of microbial cell banks.

When she isn’t cooking up a microbial cell bank in the laboratory, she spends her time cooking up a lot of other delicious things in her home kitchen. She enjoys trying new recipes and pushing herself into learning new skills in the kitchen, and her husband enjoys the role of QC taste tester.