How Collaborations Drive Lab Innovation | SLAS Europe 2026 NexusXp Flash Talk Preview (Sponsored by Agilent Technologies)

In this episode, we’re joined by Anneke Müehlebach, Director Marketing Lab Productivity Innovation of Agilent Technologies, to preview the company’s upcoming NexusXp Flash Talk at SLAS Europe 2026.

The discussion explores the NexusXp theme of "the connected lab," which blends hardware, software, and human ingenuity across three automation levels: human-operated guided workflows, fully automated work cells, and vendor-neutral data access. Anneke highlights Agilent's integration of hardware, software, and human factors in lab automation, highlighting real-world applications, collaborations, and future trends in the industry.

Key Learning Points:

• Lab automation integration
• Collaborations with partners to address customer pain points
• Data standards and vendor-neutral formats
• Customer-centric innovation and co-creation

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Transcript

Emily Yamasaki (00:03)

Hello and welcome to New Matter the SLAS podcast. I'm your host Emily Yamasaki and today joined by Anneke Muehlebach Marketing Director for Automated Productivity Solutions at Agilent to talk about their NexusXp Flash Talk that will be presented at SLAS Europe 2026 in Vienna. Anneke, welcome to the podcast.

Anneke Muehlebach (00:20)

Hi, thank you. Nice to meet you, Emily.

Emily Yamasaki (00:23)

Great to see you too. So the theme for NexusXp is the connected lab, highlighting real world lab automation scenarios that blend hardware, software and human ingenuity. How does Agilent currently align with that core theme of NexusXp of bringing together hardware, software and people in automation?

Anneke Muehlebach (00:41)

Based on many customer HLN sees three topics for lab automation. So I sense there is a human-operated lab with guided workflows, there is a fully automated and autonomous lab, and there is the aspect of data, saying automatic vendor neutral data access. So let me share a bit more on the guided workflows. So that's where software and systems are available.

The guides lab personnel through procedures often integrated with the SLIMs or ELNs and automation platforms. Workflow there needs to be triggered rather by events and then manually. Then for the fully automated lab, you think about automated work cells, so modular of robotic systems that automate the entire lab process from sample prep to analysis.

within a physical work cell. So tasks here to consider our execution and workflow orchestration. And last but not least, there's a data aspect to enable and support vendor neutral formats and enable to bring the collected data to be pipelined automatically for archiving and for future insights. And that's also the foundation for machine learning and AI applications.

indeed, that means to bring together hardware aspects, software aspects, and the perspective of people working in the lab. So the initiatives like NexusXp add really value to the lab automation community.

So indeed, this means to bring together hardware aspects, software aspects, and the perspective of people working in the lab. So I feel initiatives like NexusXp really add value to the lab automation community.

Emily Yamasaki (02:33)

So you talked a little bit about some of the different levels of integration and automation. What are some examples of how your instruments integrate with other laboratory equipment?

Anneke Muehlebach (02:42)

Yeah, think about task automation. So, Agilent has great offerings, for example, the Bravo Liquid Handler for automated sample preparation, which is also shown at the SLAS booth. Think about Infinity 3LC. So, there are automated sample ID readers or you have built-in instrument intelligence, for example, for a scheduled startup and shutdown procedures or automated purge procedures.

we also make sure that our hardware is automation ready. Think about the 5,400 fragment analyzer for parallel CE systems for high throughput labs. Yet, we see we also need more. So we need more with respect to digital connectivity. I think here about standardized components as queuing services or API integration services or event-triggered execution.

And we definitely also think about vendor neutral formats for communication protocols and data. They interfacing with third party integration and robotic platforms is key. that's why we progress here with strong partners. So for example, we do work together with Mettler Toledo

for instrument integration, this is Mettler for integration of balances and making sure that results from the balance are to the chromatography data system. We work together with SWISSCAD. So that's a company in Switzerland where we work quite a bit on to set up an architectural reference lab and to validate an automation environment.

And we do work together with ABB, which company very strong in robotics. So Agilent instruments live in high-precision contamination sensitive, often regulated environments. And ABB's co-bots are explicitly positioned for human-safe bench-top adjacent operations in non-fenced factory cells. So a very good fit.

So that collaboration was announced actually at the SLAS in 2025. And the solution delivery is to execute automation at a scale.

Emily Yamasaki (05:00)

So you talked a little bit about some of the collaborations, which is fantastic to hear. part of this program is the emphasis on the real world scenarios. So are there any applications or case studies you can share that really show that collaboration?

Anneke Muehlebach (05:12)

One the very good examples is that Agilent is being part of the Allotrope consortium. So that's covering the data aspect. Many customers ask for generic data standards as they need to bring data in from different sources and out of different softwares into one data lake to archive and also to gain further insights.

So that's why Agilent became a member of the Allotrope Association. the Allotrope Association was even founded 10 years ago by major pharmaceutical companies and industry instrument vendors. already now, our platform OpenLab provides Allotrope data format, data, so saying generic format.

But that's not enough, as we learned. So many customers also ask for human readable formats. So that's why we now work on an allotrope simplified model for data visualization and working on even further alongside CCASM.

Emily Yamasaki (06:17)

Thank you. what is your approach at Agilent to ensuring that your products and services align with the solutions that are really needed in the lab? That human readable data example you just gave is a great example of that.

Anneke Muehlebach (06:29)

Yeah, very good question. So in fact, that's close connection to the customer and every customer interaction brings new insights. So based on many customer interviews, we know automation is an ongoing journey. So this very different entry points for different customers. And what truly makes a difference is helping laboratories taking the next step forward. that is where we want to collaborate with our customers.

Emily Yamasaki (06:56)

And how important is bringing that customer's perspective in early? Can you share any broad insights from that process?

Anneke Muehlebach (07:02)

Bringing in the customer perspective early on is crucial, so that's a must. We developed an approach of co-creation, especially with our strategic customers, to involve them very early, to show them demonstrators and concepts in a physical lab in order to feed an iteration cycle, actually following design thinking principles.

so that way, we learn and iterate and improve those concepts and feed our product development. And actually, AI tools have been proven to be very helpful in this process. So they allow to create and adapt demonstrators fast, and they are very helpful in contact with our customers to visualize their input.

but also in contact with our internal stakeholders at Agilent. So for example, when as a into discussion with the R&D teams.

Emily Yamasaki (08:00)

Okay, that's great to hear that collaboration coming in early to really solve the burning problems that your customers have. Is there anything else that you'd like to share, Anneke?

Anneke Muehlebach (08:09)

so I'm convinced that innovation takes place at the intersection of technical feasibility, economic value and customer desirability or solving a user pain point. So customer input is very important for us. And the SLAS in Vienna will be a great opportunity to involve again and to have many customer interactions looking forward

to that one. And so yeah, also step by at the SLAS booth, see the Agilent offering for task automation. So for example, we will have a Bravo there and a fragment analyzer and also learn more about how we connect these instruments using cobots and using your orchestration software.

Emily Yamasaki (08:55)

Well, Agilent's flash talk will take place on Thursday, May 21st from 2:40 to 3:00 in the Exhibition Theater at SLAS Europe 2026 in Vienna. we'll see you there and thank you so much to Anneke for joining me today.

Anneke Muehlebach (09:07)

It was a pleasure. Thank you.