Helical Brew
Just like the DNA of Life from which the phrase, the DNA of Technology originated, the helical construct is a rollercoaster of endless learning, experimentation, and discovery. The Helical Brew Crew is here to take you along for the ride in a fun, relaxed and informative podcast that explores the twists and turns of technology. We are an enthusiastic group of engineering, scientific, and business professionals that share a passion for the development, mastery, and deployment of technology.
Episodes
🎙️ Hosts: Mike Ouren, Sura Hadi, Elizabeth Rodziewicz
🎧 Episode Title: Unfiltered Brew: Summer Trade Shows, Surf Racks & ShrinkageBold opinions.
Bigger laughs. No guests, just guts.
Your favorite lab automation crew gets real about diagnostics, biotech trends, and a little turbulence—literally.
This episode dives into ADLM, biotech meetups, automation trends, and the evolving diagnostics industry landscape.
☕ What we cover in thi...
🎙️ Guest: Madeline Wolf | Founder, The Automated Lab
🎧 Hosts: Mike Ouren, Sura Hadi, and Elizabeth Rodziewicz
📺 Series: Automation in the Wild
Title: Blueprints, Bots & Breaking In: Building The Automated Lab from the Ground Up
"You can’t automate what you don’t understand." – Madeline Wolf
In this episode, we sit down with Madeline Wolf, a seasoned automation engineer, product manager, and founder of The Automated Lab...
🎙️ Guest: Ali Glaser | Antibody Discovery & Cell Therapy Automation Strategist
🎧 Hosts: Mike Ouren & Sura Hadi
📺 Series: Science Means Business
"You can’t innovate in a vacuum." - Ali Glaser
In this episode, Ali Glaser shares field-tested lessons from the frontlines of lab automation, platform adoption, and scientific product strategy. From custom ClonePix setups to dead-cell disasters, we unpack why tools get ...
🎙️ Guest: Steven Laflin, Former Principal SHE Program Manager, Genentech🎧 Hosts: Mike Ouren, Sura Hadi & Elizabeth Rodziewicz📺 Series: Science Means BusinessLabs aren’t failing because the science is wrong—they’re failing because the systems were built to break.Steven Laflin has managed over $325M in capital investments across life sciences. From Eli Lilly to Genentech, he’s the guy who gets called after the multimillion-dol...
🎙️ Guest: Kate Halter, PhD – Field Sales Engineer at Tecan
🎧 Hosts: Mike Ouren, Sura Hadi & Elizabeth Rodziewicz
📺 Series: Automation in the Wild – Helical Brew
Lab automation doesn’t sell itself.
In this episode of Automation in the Wild, Kate Halter, PhD, joins us to talk about what really happens after the install. From neuroscience labs to field sales, Kate shares what it takes to build trust, train teams, and make robots ac...
🎙 Hosts: Sura Hadi | Mike Ouren | Elizabeth Rodziewicz
🎧 Series: Unfiltered Brew – Helical Brew Intermission
☕️ Lab chaos, cool cars, and even cooler stories.
This unscripted intermission episode gives the Helical Brew crew a chance to go off-the-rails (and off-the-record) about robot mishaps, automation bloopers, and the biotech grind. From coolant caps that won’t budge to janitors shadowboxing $250K robots - this is one for the au...
🎙️ Guest: Constantin Radu, Commercial Leader at Molecular Devices (Danaher)
🎧 Hosts: Mike Ouren, Sura Hadi & Elizabeth Rodziewicz
📺 Series: Science Means Business
Automation is only as successful as the problems it solves.
In this episode of Helical Brew, Constantine Radu joins us to explore how true lab innovation scales - across markets, cultures, and customer needs. From a five-meter robot track at Sloan-Kettering to AI-drive...
🎙️ Guest: Charbel Eid, VP of Platform at BigHat Biosciences
🎧 Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren
Antibody discovery meets AI copilots.
In this episode of Helical Brew, Charbel Eid walks us through how BigHat Biosciences is blending synthetic biology, machine learning, and real-world biotech to accelerate drug design - without replacing the scientists behind it.
We talk toddler metaphors, Clippy moments, PS5 parenting hacks, and how to...
▶️ Hosts: Mike Ouren & Elizabeth Rodziewicz
🎙️ Recorded live from the show floor at SLAS Europe 2025 in Hamburg
📻 In this wrap-up edition of Helical Brew, Mike and Elizabeth unpack two packed days in Hamburg - from record-setting product launches to UI upgrades we didn’t see coming. If you like benchtop deployables, centrifuges that finally make sense, or just nerding out over perfect API reuse, this one’s for you.
🔹 The rise o...
▶️ Guests: Tim Verweij (Lab Services) & Martin Pinzer (Lab Automation Network)
🎙 Host: Mike Ouren
📻 Live from SLAS 2025 in Hamburg, this special episode of Helical Brew captures the energy, innovation, and late-night gossip of Europe's premier lab automation conference. From modular robotics to organoid centers, Tim and Martin share what caught their attention on the expo floor and what’s really changing in the world of aut...
▶️ Guest: Andrew Hurder, Field Application Scientist at Artel (Advanced Instruments)
🎙 Hosts: Sura Hadi, Mike Ouren & Elizabeth Rodziewicz
📻 In this episode of Automation in the Wild - titled “Hands-On with Lab Automation: Experiences from the Field with Andrew Hurder” - we drop straight into the chaos, comedy, and challenges of real-world lab automation.
Andrew Hurder joins the crew to share stories from the trenches - where cl...
▶️ Guests: None – It’s just us this time
🎙 Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren
📻 This episode of Helical Brew takes a break from guest interviews and dives into the chaos, comedy, and commentary that happens when two automation nerds are left alone with coffee, curved monitors, and too many dogs.
From shrinkflation and Lego Ferraris to parenting via machete and skateboarding through life, this one's a raw slice of real-life scienc...
▶️ Guest: Ingrid Barbosa-Farias, Founder of SimAtomic
🎙 Hosts: Sura Hadi, Mike Ouren & Elizabeth Rodziewicz
📻 This episode of AI Thought Leaders dives into the powerful intersection of molecular simulations and AI - and how one founder is using smarter algorithms to accelerate drug discovery and reduce R&D costs by up to 200x.
Ingrid Barbosa-Farias shares her journey from biotech bench scientist to founder of SimAtomic, a no...
▶️ Guest: Tim Verweij, Global Automation Expert, Lab Services B.V.
🎙 Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren
📻 This episode of Automation in the Wild explores what actually makes automation successful - and why simplicity, trust, and saying no are more powerful than the flashiest robot on the showroom floor.
Tim Verweij walks us through his journey from hands-on scientist to global automation leader. We get into real-world system design, ...
▶️ Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren📻 Between AI episodes, we’re keeping it casual - over earthquakes, TikTok confessions, Amazon scams, PS5 dreams, and nostalgic tales of moving and gaming through the decades.This Helical Brew Intermission brings Sura and Mike into an unfiltered conversation across tech chaos, gaming nostalgia, and retail horror stories, all fueled by caffeine and a little friendly PS4 shaming.🔹 Earthquake dog-p...
▶️ Hosts: Sura Hadi, Mike Ouren & Elizabeth Rodziewicz
📻 In this Helical Brew Intermission, the crew dives deep into the chaos of modern tech, from Disney’s Pear computers to Tesla-vandal-proof bumper stickers, and the Gen Z slang your pilot probably shouldn’t use.
We talk cloud storage obsession, overpriced iPhones, obscure headphone specs, and whether Apple and Sony could’ve been soulmates if not for one keynote burn.
🔹 Why Di...
▶️ Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren
📻 Between AI episodes, we took a detour - into Scotch rituals, comic book logic, nostalgic TV, science jokes, and what lab automation might smell like.
This Helical Brew Intermission brings co-hosts Mike and Sura into an unfiltered conversation covering everything from lab coat mottos to Friday movie quotes.
🔹 What if your science career was a comic book?
🔹 Can beer tasting be a scientific exper...
▶️ Hosts: Elizabeth Rodziewicz, Sura Hadi, Jeff Nagle, and Mike Ouren
🎙 Guest: G. Tony Reina | Head of Machine Learning, Exthymic
🔍 Episode Title: “The Machine Learning Blueprint: AI Architecture with G. Anthony Reina”
In the third episode of our AI Thought Leaders Series, we welcome AI architect and machine learning expert G. Tony Reina for a mind-expanding conversation on the evolution and impact of AI in biotech, diagnostics, and...
▶️ Hosts: Elizabeth Rodziewicz, Sura Hadi, Jeff Nagle, and Mike Ouren
🎙️ Helical Brew - AI Thought Leaders Series | Episode 2
What if AI hallucinations held the key to scientific progress?
In this episode, we’re joined by John Conway, founder of 20/15 Visioneers and longtime pharma executive, for a raw and powerful conversation on how AI is reshaping life sciences - from institutional memory to software standardization.
💥 We explore ...
▶️ Hosts: Elizabeth Rodziewicz, Sura Hadi, Jeff Nagle, and Mike Ouren
🧠 The next scientific revolution is here - and it’s powered by AI.
In the premiere episode of our AI Thought Leaders Series, we sit down with Nick Edwards, PhD, neuroscientist and CEO of Potato AI, to explore the future of AI in scientific research and lab automation.
🔹 Can AI design better experiments than scientists?
🔹 How close are we to true closed-loop scien...
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