New Matter: Inside the Minds of SLAS Scientists

In this week's episode, guest host Andrew Napper , Vice President, Discovery Sciences at Evotec joins Zack Gurard-Levin Chief Scientific Officer at SAMDI Tech, Inc. Andrew and Zack discuss how high school chemistry sparked his interest in science and his work with SAMDI Tech helping companies solve challenging problems, and opening up avenues for networking and collaboration. Learn about what...

Join special guest host Dr. Colin Cox ( King of the Robots ) and Dr. Lauren Shields as they discuss what is important to think about in terms of organic team building, how to persevere and focus in the field of science, and the pro-bono COVID projects Benchling is working on. Along the way learn about her start in science at a very young age and her amazing personal growth in the field since, as w...

Robots never tire, and neither do we. Learn from Biosero CTO David Dambman about how a passion for software, repeatability, and impact on world health problems - plus side paths in radar and guitar equipment - led him to construct the Green Button Go™ Automation Scheduling Software integration layer atop the company's lab automation. We touch on how to make use of tight lab space, where the C...

 If being scientifically "bilingual" is important for today's careers, Imran Haque is a master linguist - he speaks data science, immunology, chemistry, and relates it all with a smile and enthusiasm. Join Mike and Imran as they discuss COVID-19 cytokine storms, GIGO, "unshackling" scientists by teaching them scripting languages, and how a cartoon genetics book influenced...

Professor Shaghayegh Harbi has been listening to lectures since she was in utero. She's been propelled forward by the need to shout from the rooftops about everything science: immune social networking, ethnically diverse transcriptomics, and her true central passion of teaching science to non-majors. Along the way, learn a bit about spotting trends, working in isolation, and being in the righ...

Have you ever worn a "personal fume hood" to do your lab work? If you're Lynn Rasmussen, and you're handling the worst viruses known to man, you would! Join Mike and Lynn as they discuss COVID, social distancing, the revelation of lab automation, and the biggest drug hunting organization you've never heard of - Southern Research (they've had 7 FDA-approved molecules!)...

Join Merck's MJ Wildey - a 26-year member of our community - as she and Mike wax historic and celebrate SLAS's 10th anniversary. If you like to think of screening as an enabling science to open the doors to multiple disease treatments and new tech, this one's for you! Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, Netherlands (10 September 2026) Tübingen, Germany (20 October 2026) SLAS 2026...

What happens when a linguist and a biomedical engineer partner up to teach computers how to "solve" drug discovery? What role do humans play once computers are calling the shots? Can a biotech community grow up around Salt Lake City? Drs. Lina Nilsson and Katherine Matsumoto join Mike to answer these questions and encourage you to get involved with their (free!) data sets to do your own...

A chance encounter with an ancient liquid handler in a dusty corner was all it took to propel Dr. Colin Cox into a life of robot wrangling. Join Colin and Mike as they discuss synthetic genes, reduction of "art" to "practice," being connected in the times of COVID-19, and why you should never binge-watch the Wizard of Oz. Millions of data points....without a team of 40. One man...

SLAS Board President Emilio Diez-Monedero is on his third act of an amazingly impactful career - as a molecular biologist in academia, as an automation leader in pharmaceuticals, and now as a consultant and investor in small-stage rare disease companies. Join Mike and Emilio as they discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the scientific enterprise, how all jobs are global jobs, and which moments of prof...

Building robots and inspiring other students to follow suit are among the chief passions that propelled BadgerBOTS Team 1306 to win the Wisconsin Regional 2020 FIRST Robotics Chairman's award . Join Mike and Chair Kevin Chang, finance whiz Max Roquitte, and CAD engineer Cal Rossman as they explain the inner workings of their 'bot, how FIRST helps kids get into STEM fields, and how SLAS c...

Synthetic Biology has exploded - MIT professor Jim Collins outlines just a few of the opportunities in diagnostics among those in energy, materials, and sustainability. Along the way, learn about his shock at discovering that freeze-dried cell-free extracts could be brought "back to life," the amazing group of collaborators that propelled him forward, and some...interesting...approaches...

Bioengineer? Teacher? Analytical chemist? Carine Nemr , the 2019 SLAS Graduate Education Fellowship winner, is all of these (and more!). Join us as we discuss lab training, microfluidics, antibiotic resistance, and how small the world really is....networking is key! Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, Netherlands (10 September 2026) Tübingen, Germany (20 October 2026) SLAS 2026 Sample Managemen...

The discovery and application of different ways to edit genes has revolutionized how we understand biological systems. Mammoth Biosciences' CTO Dr. Janice Chen joins Mike to talk about how to launch a start-up, how to discover new CRISPR nucleases, and how to turn lab discoveries into products that benefit human health. You might also hear about riding in an Uber with a plate reader on your l...

SLAS CEO Vicki Loise discusses with Mike how 2021 will look different - but better! - for our conferences, symposia, journals , eLearning , podcasts , and microcredentials. Get ready to engage with us on many more levels as we storm into '21. Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, Netherlands (10 September 2026) Tübingen, Germany (20 October 2026) SLAS 2026 Sample Management Symposium (Octobe...

If you need a crash course in synthetic biology and the sheer joy of natural products discovery, look no further than Dr. Keith Robison of Ginkgo Bioworks and his blog Omics! Omics! . Mike and Keith cover the wacky world of biology, from finding bugs in oil reserves and sea slugs to the unexpected wealth of molecular diversity that emerges to treat human disease and even COVID-19. Careful listener...

Would you start from nothing, over and over? SLAS Board Member Peter Simpson has...twice! First as the founding CSO for Medicines Discovery Catapult, an innovation organization supporting biotech and pharma, and most recently as one of four leaders of the Lighthouse response effort to combat COVID-19. Learn how Peter displays resiliency, depends on the "non-sexy" transferable skills of s...

Got biomarkers? Correlia can help! Join Mike and 2020 Ignite Award Winner Akwasi Apori, CEO & President of Correlia Biosystems , as they discuss how assay automation through microfludics can help in every phase of drug development. We'll touch upon launching companies from academic labs, the pride of watching a beta prototype sputter to life, what it's like to be on the floor at SLAS...

How do you find alien life on Earth? Can we automate all of chemistry and create a "Spotify" for synthesis? What should students be learning to adjust to the pandemic-influenced world? Join Mike and esteemed Prof. Lee Cronin to discuss all this...and maybe a little bit of Star Trek.  Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, Netherlands (10 September 2026) Tübingen, Germany (20 October 2026...

This one's a bit different - we're going to look at SLAS through the lens of someone helping to get start-ups off the ground in Europe. Severine Tamas-Lhoustou chats with Mike about her unique introduction to SLAS through the New Product Award, how new businesses are coping with COVID-19, and how she believes a strong scientific core is key to any successful venture. Allons-y! Upcoming E...

Have you ever had the literal "light-bulb goes off" moment? Ira Hoffman has! Join him and Mike for a fun, free-wheeling conversation traveling from Burlington to North Wales to Los Alamos, from H1N1 to SARS-CoV-2, and everywhere in between. Learn how to conduct a 10-point-view remote FAT. Can you pick a favorite moment from SLAS? Neither could we. Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, N...

How do you go from an idea in grad school to a start-up? What types of chances and connections do you need to make to get it working? Join Mike and 490 BioTech founder Dan Close as they discuss opportunities, "breaking" assays, and the cool blue light of success. Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, Netherlands (10 September 2026) Tübingen, Germany (20 October 2026) SLAS 2026 Sample Ma...

Ed Chow and Dean Ho are superstar SLAS leaders and volunteers. With their powers combined, they have deployed Identif. AI , an AI-powered platform to uncover non-obvious drug combinations to treat cancer, infectious diseases, and even to suggest new therapies against SARS-CoV-2 infection, mid-pandemic. Join us for an emotionally and intellectually intense journey through patient remissions, system...

Ola Engkvist works in cheminformatics at AstraZenca Gothenburg. Listen in as Ola and Mike discuss the origins of chemistry machine learning, how to develop broad scientific interests, and revel in the amazing exponential data growth over the past decade. Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, Netherlands (10 September 2026) Tübingen, Germany (20 October 2026) SLAS 2026 Sample Management Symposium...

Celebrating 10 Years with SLAS2022 Conference co-Chair, Dr. Yohann Potier. Join Mike and Yohann as they discuss DNA storage, miniaturization, the interconnected science community, and how two chemists find themselves loving life sciences in their later careers. Upcoming Events: SLAS Meet-Ups Leiden, Netherlands (10 September 2026) Tübingen, Germany (20 October 2026) SLAS 2026 Sample Management Sym...