Introduce yourself

Hello, my name is Jason DesRosiers and I currently work for PerkinElmer as a subject matter expert on the Hamilton systems. Prior to coming to PE I worked for Hamilton where I provided field service as well as service training to other techs. I then went to work for a third-party reseller where I not only rebuilt and qualified Hamilton machines, but I also trained application engineers on method development as well as coded a number of “specialized control libraries” using firmware level commands. I find the notion of an “open-source control solution” for lab automation robots very interesting.

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A small medical lab with 20 Hamiltons! Welcome to the forum mojo, I hope you like it

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You should start a topic of how to deploy and manage that many liquid handlers!

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Yeah actually I’d love to know more about it

Hey All, my name is Austin Crithary and I began working at Veslius Therapeutics (Flagship) in June as an automation engineer. I got my start in lab automation at BMS in Princeton, NJ in the leads discovery & optimization department, where I was the owner/operator of a bunch of medium-throughput integrated systems from Thermo & HRB. Then had a stint at GenScript US Molecular Biology where I implemented the US-based automated gene synthesis & plasmid production line. Excited to be back in drug discovery R&D and to bolster my capability specifically in informatics & scripting.

Previous ALH experience includes Tecan EVO, PE Janus, Hamilton Microlab Nimbus, CyBio Felix, and others. Just got my hands on a new i7 hybrid + Echo 655 (will be thoroughly combing through the Biomek Scripting tools page, please contribute :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:).

VesaliusTX is in very early stages, so I’ll be leveraging this forum heavily to inform some key decisions/justifications going forward. Would love to connect with any & all!

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Never sleep? Coffee IV drips? LOL

No secrets, just take all the classes available, ask every question that comes to mind (because even if you work out the answer mid-sentence, maybe someone else can benefit from the answer or even propose a different solution), don’t be afraid to break things (within reason!) and fix them, work through a ton of “what-ifs”, and make friends with fine folks like you all. Lab automation is such a small world that most likely, someone has fixed an issue you’ve had or written a script/method for something you want to do. And if not…well, then you get to be a pioneer.

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Hi everyone!

My name is Nate Slabaugh, and I currently work as a system support engineer at Roche in the San Francisco Bay area. I help support our Hamilton STARs, cobas 68/8800 PCR instruments, cobas dPCR, and Tecan Fluent systems. I am mainly on the hardware side, but I am interested in getting into lab automation and scripting. I also previously worked at Biolytic Lab Performance where I supported their oligo synthesizers.

I am excited to be here and learn from all the experience and knowledge in this forum!

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Hi everyone. I feel late to the party here. My name is Melinda Rivera. I’m an Automation Engineer for PerkinElmer. I’m currently working at a customer site where I troubleshoot, script and train on the following liquid handling systems: Tecan Evo, Fluent, Chemspeed Swing XL, SPTlabtech mosquito. I also have experience with PE Janus as well. I have also repaired and serviced ABI 3730xl DNA Analyzers as well. My specialty is human factors but I have a passion for open source hardware/software and always looking for opportunities to use to optimize our systems here.

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Hi :slight_smile:

I am Josefin from Norway. Currently working as a Sr. biomedical engineer but hope to transition to programming/bioinformatic related work.

I am interested in programming (R, python, C), but still a novice in the field. My relation to lab automation started 4 years ago when I started at my current work place which mainly performs LC-MS/MS and GC-MS analysis. We have a Hamilton STARlet and VENUS. I was the only one keen to learn more about VENUS, thus I became the sort of “automation expert” in-house. But I have not got enough chance to learn more since this is not my main responsibility, even tough I would love to!

We are now in the process of getting a new robot, so I was researching for discussions/reviews and thus came upon this forum! Look forward to learn more with help from this place!

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Hi All

Very happy to see this website pop up. I think it’s a great idea and we’ll all learn a lot on here! I’m currently working on automation at FabricNano, London. Originally a biochemist & chemical engineer, about 1 year ago I stepped into an automation role for my company. Very excited to join this community and learn from all the experienced users!

Best
JF

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Hi all,

Great forum, looking forward to many interesting discussions!

My name is Cornelia Steinhauer and I just joined PMI Life Sciences as Laboratory Automation Engineer after many years of academic experience within lab automation, HT and in particular HC screening.

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Hey y’all,

I was introduced to this group by a good friend. My name is Alejandro (Alex) Figueroa, President of Sunset Resources Group LLC located in Border Land USA - El Paso, Texas. I’ve worked on various projects throughout my 35-year career & a former Bristol-Myers Squibb alumnus. I never consider myself as an expert because as you all know our industry is a wealth of ever-changing knowledge. I have been involved in some cool projects and those of you that know me know I always love to teach and mentor. If you are interested in having a virtual coffee chat let me know and we can talk automation & research. I would love to meet you and learn about some of the challenges you are experiencing.

Some recent projects my company and I have been working on this past year… Texas A&M IBT Houston (Medical Center Region) - HTS Automated Flow Cytometry System. Takeda Pharmaceuticals, San Diego - Automated Cell Wash Station. Client assistance with FDA EUA submission, Montana State University, Harvard & NIH. Widget and part development for multiple pharmaceutical companies. Product manufacturing & prototype development. Programming. El Paso Canutillo Independent School District student automation program. I have more when you call we can chat :cowboy_hat_face:

On a personal note, I have been training to run up Mt. Franklin here in El Paso. I completed the Moab, Utah 100mi road cycling tour late last year. I have a cool wife, 5 adult kids & 3 little grandchildren, and one little angel that we lost 2 years ago. Please feed & help the homeless :heart:

Hope to have the opportunity to connect and help y’all… All the best!

alejandro@sunsetresourcesgroup.com
Cell: 1-619-381-5994

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“student automation program”…I love this concept!

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Let’s connect and I can share more about it…

Hey Cornelia! Great to see you on here :smiley:

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Michael Vuke with Hamilton where I’m the specialist for the Microlab PREP in the Southeast US. Been with Hamilton since January '22. Before that I’ve been in the life sciences for 8 years, primarily with VWR/Avantor.

I do sales, but my passion project right now has been automation education–I’ve seen such a knowledge gap between groups using automation and those who haven’t jumped into automation. Started a video series on LinkedIn that’s not sales, just breaking down basic concepts like LLD for non-automation users.

When not working or playing with the family, I’m into baking, carving spoons, and being a nerd (current obsessions: DMing for my D&D group and working through the Expanse books).

Excited to join in the forum and learn a lot from y’all!

(Also, I love networking, so if you’re active on LinkedIn–add me!)

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Hello everyone,
A little late to the party, but better late than never. I am Hoai Nguyen, Automation Director for Parse Biosciences, and am currently automating Parse’s Evercode assay. Previously, I’ve helped started Resolution Biosciences and Color Health’s automation team. My passion has been exploring new technologies, understanding their capabilities and limitations, and fathoming unique engineering solutions to unblock those limitations. Looking forward to learning more and contributing to this forum.

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Hi all,

My name is Collin, and I’m a staff automation engineer at Amyris in Emeryville, CA. I work mostly on applications, helping scientists to automate and optimize their processes. I spent 4 years at Zymergen, and before moving to synbio, worked in clinical diagnostics at Foundation Medicine in Cambridge, MA. I really look forward to seeing how this forum develops!

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Hello everyone, my name is Max Gildemeister and I am new to lab automation! I just graduated college at Northeastern University last May and started a position in high-throughput production at Generate Biomedicines shortly afterwards. (Working with Sam Mohler who I believe is pretty active on these boards…) Looking forward to learning more about automation from you all!

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Hi guys,

Being part of this forum from almost the very beginning, however I missed to introduce myself. I appreciate having a spot to share thoughts and needs, thank you so much @Stefan, and also the high class Hamilton support in here @EricSindelar_Hamilton @WilliamCham_Hamilton @NickHealy_Hamilton @DanHartman_Hamilton.

I work in Munich, Germany, dealing with transferring sample preparation for HPLC and LC-MS/MS analysis of human specimen to liquid handlers. I have gained experience mainly with devices from the Hamilton STAR platform.

If there are other Bavarians (or Automators from other parts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy,…) out there in the forum, do not hesitate to contact me, I would welcome it if we networked also locally. I think there is still room for improvement for a Bavarian or Alpine forum for laboratory automation.

Cheers
Max

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