by Sura Hadi | Mike Ouren
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.
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Publishing Since
9/25/2024
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June 21, 2026
<p>First to market with NFC payments two years before Apple Pay. First smartwatch for tarmac environments. Now helping the largest life sciences companies in the world build autonomous labs. Rui Campos has been ahead of the market his entire career, and he's here to talk about where lab automation is actually going.</p><p><br></p><p>Rui Campos is VP of Product at Automata, leading product, engineering, design, data, and AI. Before life sciences, he drove digital transformation across payments, supply chain, airport operations, and IoT. He brings a cross-industry perspective to lab automation that this industry rarely sees.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode:</p><ul><li><p>Why the problems in lab automation aren't unique—the environment is</p></li><li><p>What product-market fit actually looks like in life sciences</p></li><li><p>What AI-native teams actually do differently</p></li><li><p>What autonomous labs really mean versus the hype</p></li><li><p>Why only 1% of professionals are actually using AI</p></li></ul><p>Guest: Rui Campos, Automata</p><p>Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren</p><p>Series: Science Means Business</p><p><br></p><p>LinkedIn: <a href="https://linkedin.com/in/ruicampos" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://linkedin.com/in/ruicampos</a></p><p>Automata: <a href="https://automata.tech/" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://automata.tech</a></p><p><br></p><p>Email: <a href="mailto:helicalbrew@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">helicalbrew@gmail.com</a></p><p>YouTube: <a href="https://youtu.be/oaLvdLOQuQw" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">https://youtu.be/oaLvdLOQuQw</a></p><p><br></p><p>CHAPTERS</p><p>00:00 Cold Open</p><p>00:20 Welcome & Guest Intro — Rui Campos, Automata</p><p>07:53 Icebreaker — How Do You Know When You're Early vs Simply Wrong?</p><p>10:56 Segment 1 — What Life Sciences Can Learn From Other Industries</p><p>12:16 Segment 2 — Product Market Fit in Lab Automation</p><p>22:48 Segment 3 — AI Native Teams vs AI Theater</p><p>37:59 Segment 4 — The Road to Autonomous Labs</p><p>49:50 Pick of the Week</p><p>55:54 Where to Find Rui</p><p><br></p><p>@helicalbrew</p>
June 8, 2026
<p>Donkey work. That's what a British scientist called it — the tedious, repetitive, unglamorous work that keeps labs running. Petia and Safwan Hak heard that phrase and built a company around it.</p><p>Lab Donkey is focused on one of the hardest problems in lab automation: execution, scheduling and robotics for the problems that are too big, too complex and too challenging for anyone else to tackle. And they built it from the outside - Petia from project management and operations, Safwan from enterprise software architecture including time at Automata - watching scientists work, living in the lab, and solving the problems nobody else would touch.</p><p>In this episode: </p><p>→ Why automation works in demos but breaks in real labs </p><p>→ Why the human is the biggest challenge in automation </p><p>→ What enterprise software can teach life sciences </p><p>→ Why standards are the real bottleneck in lab automation </p><p>→ How Lab Donkey is building what the industry was missing</p><p>🎙️ Guests: Petia Hak & Safwan Hak — Lab Donkey </p><p>👥 Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren </p><p>📁 Series: Automation in the Wild</p><p>🔗 Follow Petia on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/petiahak-4bb26a3 </p><p>🔗 Follow Safwan on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/safwanhak </p><p>🔗 Lab Donkey: labdonkey.com </p><p>📩 helicalbrew@gmail.com</p><p><br></p><p>CHAPTERS</p><p>00:00 The Story Behind "Lab Donkey"</p><p>00:24 Meet the Founders</p><p>01:40 The Real Problem with Lab Automation</p><p>08:49 Why Automation Demos Don't Match Reality</p><p>10:50 What Actually Breaks in a Lab</p><p>17:59 Software Lessons Life Sciences Needs</p><p>22:11 Is AI Ready for Lab Automation?</p><p>26:04 Why So Many Automation Projects Fail</p><p>29:03 The Hidden Complexity of Lab Workflows</p><p>34:29 Designing for Scientists, Not Programmers</p><p>41:52 What Shocked Them About the Industry</p><p>45:20 The Mindset Behind Lab Donkey</p><p>50:42 The Future of Lab Donkey</p><p>51:59 Final Thoughts</p><p><br></p><p>👉 YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfXIZEjEPi9sUPOtidc2COg" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"> / @helicalbrew </a> </p><p>🎧 Spotify, iTunes & Amazon Podcasts </p><p>📩 helicalbrew@gmail.com </p><p>📍 @helicalbrew everywhere</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/helicalbrew" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#HelicalBrew</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/automationinthewild" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#AutomationInTheWild</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/labautomation" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#LabAutomation</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/biotech" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Biotech</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/labdonkey" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#LabDonkey</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/robotics" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Robotics</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/scheduling" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Scheduling</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/labtech" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#LabTech</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/sciencepodcast" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#SciencePodcast</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/podcast" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Podcast</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/womenfounders" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#WomenFounders</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/startuplife" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#StartupLife</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/biology" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Biology</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/automation" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Automation</a></p>
June 5, 2026
<p>Compilers for the wet lab. High-level languages for biology. A co-founder who started pipetting and ended up writing code that talks to robots. Alexandra Rolfness is building something this industry has never seen — and she's here to explain why lab automation needs a new language.</p><p>Alexandra Rolfness co-founded Tetsuwan Scientific straight out of Caltech, where she studied computer science after years in the wet lab — stem cell production, cancer biology, plant epigenetics. She's one of the few people in this industry who genuinely owns the full stack of biology and software, and she's using it to rewrite how scientists talk to machines.</p><p>In this episode:</p><p>→ Why automation breaks down in real labs</p><p>→ What it actually means to compile biology</p><p>→ Where LLMs fit in and where they fall short→ What autonomous labs actually mean vs the hype</p><p>→ What it's like being a young woman founder in lab automation🎙️ Guest: Alexandra Rolfness — Tetsuwan Scientific</p><p>👥 Hosts: Sura Hadi & Mike Ouren</p><p>📁 Series: AI Thought Leaders</p><p>🔗 Follow Alex on LinkedIn: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqblVOQjRLcTVjQWUyeFZrY1FpeTVRemx4cGZWd3xBQ3Jtc0tsdmRROTdCc2hiWmdVenJLdHhjc2xxSVZCWFM0U0laZGRsSExPcFAwVmtEenFCVzRBRUloN0YyTVQ2RWlNR2FqNFI3RzdycENhVUk0cG9DRVA5OGE4WklaMTNidDZULTRtUkExT0FlX2x3cFQ3ZG0zdw&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fin%2Farolfness&v=_vzbV0sU6b8" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"> / arolfness </a></p><p>🔗 Tetsuwan Scientific: tetsuwan.com</p><p>📩 helicalbrew@gmail.com</p><p>CHAPTERS</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">00:00</a> Automation Isn’t a Hardware Problem (Cold Open)</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=27s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">00:27</a> Welcome & Guest Intro — Alexandra Rolfnes, Tetsuwan Scientific</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=68s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">01:08</a> What People Underestimate About Young Technical Founders</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=181s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">03:01</a> Why Lab Automation Breaks in Real Labs</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=1136s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">18:56</a> Compiling Biology — A New Language for Automation</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=1961s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">32:41</a> From Wet Lab Scientist to Full-Stack Founder</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=2533s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">42:13</a> Autonomous Labs vs. Reality</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=3025s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">50:25</a> Pick of the Week — Claude Code, Visualization & Retro Ray-Bans</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vzbV0sU6b8&t=3239s" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">53:59</a> Final Thoughts & Where to Find Tetsuwan Scientific</p><p>👉 YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfXIZEjEPi9sUPOtidc2COg" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"> / @helicalbrew </a></p><p>🎧 Spotify, iTunes & Amazon Podcasts</p><p>📩 helicalbrew@gmail.com</p><p>📍 @helicalbrew everywhere</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/helicalbrew" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#HelicalBrew</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/aithoughtleaders" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#AIThoughtLeaders</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/labautomation" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#LabAutomation</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/biotech" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Biotech</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/ai" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#AI</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/biology" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Biology</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/automation" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Automation</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/compilerdesign" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#CompilerDesign</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/dsl" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#DSL</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/autonomouslab" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#AutonomousLab</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/sciencepodcast" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#SciencePodcast</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/podcast" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#Podcast</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/tetsuwanscientific" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#TetsuwanScientific</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/womeninstem" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer">#WomenInSTEM</a></p>
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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.
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