Thrive in Science: Leadership Lessons from Olga Seltser

Thrive in Science: Women's Leadership Edition

In the first guest episode of Thrive in Science, hosts Ginger Cooper and Madeline Farley sit down with Olga Seltser, Head of Automation and Laboratory Technology at Dash Bio, to explore the experiences, challenges and lessons that have shaped her 25-year career in lab automation.

From taking calculated risks and stepping outside her comfort zone to building trust, leading teams and navigating the evolving role of AI in the laboratory, Olga shares candid insights on leadership, communication and finding your seat at the table.

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SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and the developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building.

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Transcript

Madeline Farley (00:34)
Hey everyone, and welcome to Thrive in Science, a new matter podcast series from SLAS.

Ginger Cooper (00:39)
We are your hosts Ginger Cooper and Madeline Farley, and today we're joined by Olga Seltzer with Dash Bio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to talk about her wins and how she's thriving in science. So, Olga, I know I'm, you know, we're both really excited to have you on the show, and you're our first guest on Thrive in Science. So this makes it even more special. But ⁓

You know, I've I've known you not that long, probably a few years, I think, at this point, but I've known of you for for longer. And you know, when I think of leaders in the lab automation space, you know, your name is at the, you know, one of the top names that comes to mind when I do think about leaders. So I'm really excited to have you on and to to learn more about you.

Olga Seltser (01:25)
I really, really appreciate that comment and coming from a fellow female. I that is so powerful and so meaningful. ⁓ it is very humbling. and and I do appreciate being your inaugural guest. Hope I stand up to everything that you are hoping for and the I know the expectations are high. Your bar is super high. So ⁓ yeah, I hope I

Ginger Cooper (01:43)
Yeah.

Olga Seltser (01:51)
Deliver on that.

Ginger Cooper (01:53)
I'm sure you're gonna be fantastic. ⁓ but before before we dive into the questions that we have for you, like can you share a bit about, you know, who you are, your background, ⁓ how you got to where you are now, and maybe if you want a little bit about like what you all do at Dash, 'cause I know I've seen advertisements all over, you know, ⁓ the the you know, public transportation and billboards, but it'd be great to hear from you.

Olga Seltser (02:18)
That is such great feedback. It's good to hear that the marketing campaign is working and we're all over the place and you've noticed Dash bio. Absolutely. I'll I'll I'll do a bit of spotlight on the Dash, but since you asked about my background, ⁓ I am a biomedical engineer by training. and I kind of just stumbled into the world of lab automation. ⁓

Ginger Cooper (02:20)
Okay.

Olga Seltser (02:44)
Unintentionally, and I and I think that is true for so many of us ⁓ in the space, but I loved everything about it. ⁓ I was put in front of a liquid handler, I had no idea what it was, what am I supposed to do with it, and I was basically asked to make it work. I was like, Okay, where do I even begin? Twenty five years later, I've never looked back. I thrive on

being challenged. And I think that is part of that is part of who I am. I do need to be challenged. And you know, I tend to find myself and the opportunities that prevent them present themselves tend to offer that challenging environment. So I think that works really hand you know, really well hand in hand.

Ginger Cooper (03:28)
Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (03:34)
so fast forward through my experience of ten years at Beck Pharma with AstraZeneca, medium sized biotech while at H three, early to mid-sized startup that Intelli used to be that is on the path to become commercial. Early and later stage startups within the flagship pioneering umbrella too. My time now at Dash Bio is true of a startup.

as it can be. Two years ago we were a concept, a vision, a direction that our founders strive to bring to reality to today, where we have expanded our lab to a 25,000 square foot facility in Waltham just ⁓ recently back in January and just closed on a very healthy Series A. Dave Johnson, our CEO, reached out and pitched his vision for Dash.

Which didn't have a name at the time, but the vision of revolutionizing how the development cycle is done, and more specifically by analysis, was very clear throughout my conversations with the founders, Dave Johnson, Ander Talet, and Eli Porter. Dash Bio is a tech first CRO, yes, ⁓ a CRO. I never thought I would ever work for a vendor or a CRO for that matter.

I've always supported and enabled scientific discoveries in the labs, research organizations, and clinical diagnostic labs. So I had to do some personal reflection to really understand what impact would I be bringing. Dave's message was very compelling and inspirational. His words were look at it as being part of the driving force, bringing

on the change of how the whole industry approaches development cycle and taking drugs to market enabled by leveraging technology, which is what we really what we're really good at, dash. And that spans across science, software, and automation. How impactful would it be if collectively we accelerated getting the much needed medicines to the patient?

reduce the cost of getting it over the finish line and possibly deliver more medicines with fewer testing failures along the way by building a platform that provides process control and bioanalysis. I was intrigued and that is Dash Bio. We're on a path to revolutionize the development cycle with tech first approach to bioanalysis to start with. And we are building and continuing to expand our offerings.

Ginger Cooper (06:24)
Yeah. Interesting. You know, I never knew that you and I had a pretty similar start in the industry. So I knew nothing. I was like a clinical lab science, like bachelor's, but I had no idea what a microplate was. I had no idea what automation or liquid handler was when I first like landed my first gig with PsyBio, ⁓ when they were a startup in in Wuburn. And ⁓ and I ended up being really good at optimizing liquid handling protocols on the Psyby well. And so I ended up doing a lot of like field applications work.

But it's the same. Like I never looked back after my first liquid handler. But yeah, I had no idea what it was.

Olga Seltser (06:58)
Neither had I. And we did have

a few Psybee wells. you must have moved on then from Cyb Cybio at the time because yeah, AstraZeneca had actually a few of those systems supporting tissue culture work and cell based assays. And they were tremendous for what they were doing at the time.

Ginger Cooper (07:02)
Who didn't at the time?

Yeah.

Mm.

Totally, totally. I just had no idea that we had really similar beginnings. I know that, you know, we have ⁓ we we're fairly similar, I feel like, in personality and for our love of shoes. know, I think we can still be really like hardcore automation. Yeah, who doesn't love shoes? But like we can still be hardcore automation people, right? And hardcore ⁓ just in our science space and still love things like really pretty shoes. So

Olga Seltser (07:30)
You like shoes?

Ginger Cooper (07:44)
now that we know a little bit about you, ⁓ let's just let's jump in. So the whole basis, right, for Thrive in Science is to have amazing women like yourself on the show to to really understand, like and have you able to share like like a win that you have, something that you're especially proud of, right? Either a technology implementation or a discovery.

or an innovation that's made your team measurably better and and then we'll kind of ask you some questions around that. So can you can you start with like what you what what win you want to talk about? I'm sure you've had a lot in your career, but what's the one thing that stands out to you the most?

Olga Seltser (08:20)
Maybe we should chat a little bit about what do you consider being a win.

Ginger Cooper (08:25)
I I you know, I don't know, Madeline, if you want to chime in. Yeah.

Madeline Farley (08:28)
Yeah, I

mean, I think you could come at it from multiple points of view. some of the examples are something that's improved a process. I think that's a pretty solid win. something that you feel strong ownership in. Maybe I think my personal wins are always related to mentoring and and teamwork, where I feel like I've made progress with other people feel really important to me. Yeah.

Ginger Cooper (08:51)
Yeah. Or like like sometimes like if you you've done a lot of cutting edge technology implementations, you know, and in how any of those have really transformed how companies that you've worked with, you know, or for, you know, how it's trans transformed how they do science, right? you know, or anything that you're you're hyper proud of.

Olga Seltser (08:52)
We're on

Yeah, I I think we're

all on the same page, right? That win does not mean a personal win or a personal gain. and there's probably two really good, but very different examples. ⁓ I'll give you a little bit more of a broad ⁓ of what I consider a win. And that to me is the the spark in the eyes and the experience.

Ginger Cooper (09:19)
Yeah. Yeah.

Madeline Farley (09:21)
Yeah, exactly.

Olga Seltser (09:39)
that I can see firsthand by whether it's a scientist or whatever the title is of a person that is on the receiving end that I am delivering, you know, working with, but delivering to sort of the cut the final product of an automated process, right? Being there and watching the light bulbs go off, that's a win

To me, because when we deploy automation in the lab, that is just the beginning of the process. It is the beginning of the experience. What becomes critical from there on is the level of adoption, right? Are people happy using what they have asked for? Do we deliver? And did we actually successfully deliver on what the perceived challenges or bottlenecks were? Is it easy to use?

Right. Are they going to be, is there any apprehension in using that particular tech, or do they embrace it? Right. So I think the level of adoption is directly translates to what I consider to be a win. So, you know, that's more of a kind of broad statement. and to go along with it, I love staying in touch with

Ginger Cooper (10:50)
Okay. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (10:59)
All of the teams that I've been part of and have built out over the years, and it brings such tremendous joy and and personal gratif you know, satisfaction and gratification when I hear that those systems are still continue to be used to this day. I kid you not, it's been almost 10 years, you know, nine years and change. And I've been invited to a system retirement party literally tonight. So

Ginger Cooper (11:15)
Yeah.

Olga Seltser (11:28)
The fact that it ran for this long, the fact that they I'm gonna make some assumptions that they enjoyed it enough that think of me still positively, right? To be invited to this retirement party, right? They didn't hate it, they didn't hate working with it that much. I won't say where, I won't say what system, but I think when we do, so that's this that's the other more specific example of.

Ginger Cooper (11:28)
Yeah, that's true.

Madeline Farley (11:29)
That's

amazing. Yeah.

Ginger Cooper (11:39)
Okay.

Yeah, yeah. Sure.

Yeah.

Olga Seltser (11:55)
I'm super proud of what we've done ⁓ at my time at Intelia. I was pushed outside of my comfort zone. That was the first time that I was given responsibility to bring on new technology. There's a huge financial component in that responsibility as well.

⁓ the leadership was absolutely on board that the only way to scale up the screening capabilities that Intelia wanted to stand up at that time, automation was the only robust solution to get us there. I was brought on to the team, which was already a vote of confidence, which built my internal confidence, like, wow, okay, they they think I've got what it takes.

And sometimes you need a little bit of that external validation along the way to kind of form you, right? And fully empower you and support you throughout your career. So, you know, in my mind, if the leadership team saw that potential in me, it something's something is giving them that confidence. So internally that's also allowing me to, you know, be successful.

⁓ that was sort of la laying that foundation. And we took very calculated risks. And I never I'll never forget doing the presentation to the executive team, kind of weighing out the different options, the costs, the timeline, the risks, and unknowns. And you have this group of experienced seasoned executives. And then there's me, right? Probably I I'm aside from my direct.

manager, I don't believe there was another woman that was on that leadership team at the time. I might be misremembering, ⁓ but at least during that during that meeting, I believe yeah, Jess Seitzer, my manager, who I I love today, we're, you know, we're still very, very closely connected. she was super instrumental at that time of my career, I think, in enabling in

Ginger Cooper (13:46)
I was gonna ask. Yeah, I was gonna ask. Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (14:08)
where I ended up, right? What I've done at Intelli and where I went, just has a lot to do with. But sorry, I digressed. After d doing that presentation to the to the ELT executive leadership team, I was kind of asking for their feedback, right? Right. And help me out.

Ginger Cooper (14:27)
Mm-hmm. Sure.

⁓ the

Olga Seltser (14:35)
The CEO turn it right back around. He said, Well, Olga, you are the expert in this room and we're gonna look, you know, we're looking at you to make that decision, not to put any additional pressure. There's a lot of money on the line. There is a tight timeline, but there's no one better in the room to make that decision than you. And I was like, you know, both, right? The vote of confidence, but wow, that is a lot of pressure.

Ginger Cooper (14:41)
Right.

Madeline Farley (14:44)
Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (14:56)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm.

Olga Seltser (15:03)
I've never

done it from beginning to end at that time. But if they felt that I could deliver, then I better deliver on that ask.

Ginger Cooper (15:06)
Mm.

Yeah.

That's really cool. I think the fact that the the moment ⁓ or the example that you're choosing is one where you were pushed outside your comfort zone. I I find that really amazing things happen when you step outside your comfort zone and take on new challenges. Right. Like

Olga Seltser (15:32)

absolutely and and I feel like in different words, all of the managers throughout my career to this day tend to do that. And I thrive in that environment. What that push looks like is very different and it depends. ⁓ it's funny, I remember very subtly, so I spent ten years at AstraZeneca on the early days of my career.

Ginger Cooper (15:45)
Okay.

Yeah.

⁓ yeah.

Olga Seltser (16:01)
The foundational knowledge of lab automation was laid out there. But I think what's even more important, what happened in those 10 years, majority of that time I had one manager, right? The same person that I was with throughout that time. And at different times of my tenure there, he was gently saying, I think it's time for you to go. And you're i you're not growing here, right?

Ginger Cooper (16:03)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (16:30)
You have tremendous potential.

but he wasn't directly saying that out right. And, you know, life happens, family a things happen, right? And different times need different level of risk in being pushed outside of the comfort zone. But when I finally gave my notice, he was like, my God, I've been telling you for years that you need to get out, you need to spread your wings and you need you're not learning here and I was like, Tim

Ginger Cooper (16:55)
Yeah.

Olga Seltser (16:58)
I didn't I appreciate that. Why didn't you tell me that in exactly those words years ago? But everything happens for a reason. ⁓ but I think that is one thing that I do have to say is that I've been super lucky throughout my careers to have had amazing managers, both male and and female.

Ginger Cooper (17:01)
Yeah.

That's cool. Yeah.

So let me ⁓ which I find you're really super lucky. I don't know how many people can can say that about like all their managers. So I think that's that's phenomenal. But

If there's like anything that we haven't covered yet around ⁓ like like how did you like implement stuff, like were there hardships along the way, any lessons learned? because then Madeline has some like cool follow-ups, you know, from from there. So I'm just kind of curious about any challenges, right? Lessons learned, ⁓ maybe ⁓ like steps along the way, right?

Olga Seltser (17:56)
Yeah,

⁓ absolutely. and I think the examples that I will share, they were present always and everywhere. So it's not particular for a per you know, for a specific ⁓ place where I've worked or any particular vendor that we were working with. There's always timeline slippages, right? There's always a little bit of a disconnect between what we thought we needed.

Ginger Cooper (18:01)
Mm-hmm.

Sure.

Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (18:24)
what we

thought were clearly communicated versus what is being worked on and delivered. So true across the board, anywhere I've been and anybody I've worked with, right? So what becomes critically important is communicating and overcommunicating on continuous basis, right? Because if you throw it over the fence and hope and pray that everybody interpreted

Ginger Cooper (18:34)
Yeah. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (18:52)
what you said in the s in the in the same way that you meant it. That is a very big assumption. So word of caution, just continuous conversations, right? Check in with whoever you're working with along the way. And it doesn't matter if it's an external vendor or if it's an internal partner, right? Are we talking about the same thing? Are we on the same p page? Are you on track? Am I on track? Because if you are collaborating with multiple internal teams,

Ginger Cooper (18:56)
Yeah.

Olga Seltser (19:21)
Any one of those slips behind, doesn't deliver, interprets things a little bit differently. It affects everybody that is, you know, coming together for the towards the common goal. so I think, you know, communication is I and it gets you, you know, everybody says, Yeah, we need to do a better job at communicating. What does that actually mean? And part of the huge part of that is listening.

Madeline Farley (19:29)
Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (19:30)
Yeah.

Olga Seltser (19:49)
Right. So Ginger, you mentioned that you were sales and you continue to be sales, you know, in different aspects and different roles throughout your career, right? Listening is such a fundamental skill in what allows anybody to be successful, sales or not, but it is not a skill that majority of us have mastered, right?

Ginger Cooper (20:09)
Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (20:16)
And I you know, so agree, disagree.

Ginger Cooper (20:19)
No, you're right. I mean, people usually hear what they want to hear. or it's selective listening, or you know, when you go into like I've seen a lot of salespeople where I go into a conversation and they're hearing for what they want the outcome to be versus what's in front of them. Right. ⁓ and I think a lot of people in general do that. Totally. Yeah. Madeline, go ahead. Yeah. Yeah.

Madeline Farley (20:35)
Yep. Already preparing.

Olga Seltser (20:36)
Yeah. Yeah.

Hey.

Madeline Farley (20:41)
I was just gonna say already preparing their response,

right? So they're anticipating where they think you're gonna go. Yeah, rather than listening.

Ginger Cooper (20:46)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, totally.

Olga Seltser (20:50)
But

it's okay to take a couple of seconds, a couple of minutes, and digest, I think, or or restate the question. Did I understand you correctly? Is this what you're asking? ⁓ I have a lot of opportunities to do that during our audits, right? So Dash is a GLP compliant lab, which means that every sponsor that is ⁓ engaging with us for GLP compliant studies will and you know has the ability and will audit us, right? The FDA audits will

Ginger Cooper (20:54)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (21:19)
come as well. But that is a great example of where you have to ask the clarifying questions to really understand what are you asking? What is the, what is the angle, right? What is your approach? And then the response needs to be appropriate to that question because you can get yourself into a lot of trouble, right? If you really didn't understand what the question was, you went into a rabbit hole and how good luck digging yourself out.

So before I forget, so communication was number one, right? the second one is anything that you're working on, ⁓ unless you're, you know, independent contributor and sort of just doing your own thing and there is no

There isn't somebody on the receiving end and I honestly can't think of any time when there isn't s a a customer, right? Internal, external, what have you. ⁓ it's it has to be mutually beneficial.

Ginger Cooper (22:11)
Yeah.

Mm.

Hm.

Olga Seltser (22:21)
It cannot be a one-way street. everything's negotiable, but you have to be mindful, I think, of the other side. So I think what has enabled me to be successful throughout my career is also trying to understand what is what is the angle from from the other side, right? Or the what is that angle that the other side is coming from.

Ginger Cooper (22:41)
Yeah.

Madeline Farley (22:42)
Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (22:45)
It is it's not my win. Unless it's a collective win, right? it doesn't it doesn't work, it doesn't work long term. You won't come back to have this conversation again. So I and I it's it is interesting to be part of some conversations that come up where people don't agree with that lens. It's like you can't

Ginger Cooper (23:10)
Mm.

Olga Seltser (23:12)
You can't always think of it as lopsided. Only to be benefiting oneself, right? ⁓ you know, that's what true partnership is in any given setting.

Ginger Cooper (23:16)
Yeah.

True.

Madeline Farley (23:24)
Yeah.

Ginger Cooper (23:24)
That's that's

really true. I'm I'm sure you didn't learn this, or I'm sure you this didn't come naturally to you. And so I Madeline might probe a little bit more on this for this next question about about that.

Madeline Farley (23:36)
Yeah,

I'm curious. I I like the point that you pointed out where you sort of through your experience has figured out that you thrived in that sort of outside of your comfort zone area. so maybe with respect to that or with the project-based work where you recognize that communication and also timeline slipping and and some of those things being challenges to the projects, if you were to go back through your career or any of those projects, would you do something differently given what you know now? Would you approach, you know, your

career course or any of the specific challenges with projects in a different way.

Olga Seltser (24:08)
That's a great question. maybe we should tease that one apart a l a little bit. would I do, you know, generally, ⁓ if I think about the different projects that I've delivered along the way, would I have done anything differently?

With confidence, I can say the answer to that question is no, I wouldn't change a thing. Now, that is not to say that they were all successful projects, but I learned a ton without impact or negative impact to the team or the organization, right? We've a we were able to pivot, modify, change the direction to.

Madeline Farley (24:43)
Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (24:54)
mitigate a potentially failing project and still make it a success. I had to be acutely aware that hey, I think this is going south. Or ooh, that is not how I expected this to go. would I have done it differently? Would I have not done it? No, because that is those challenges and those near failures for lack of a better that's a strong word, right? But

Those were instrumental in building up the confidence and experience. I wouldn't have grown as much as I have if I didn't take those calculated risks. It and you have to understand your internal risk tolerance. I had no idea what that meant early in my career, but I was supported, right? And I go back to the super supportive environment that I've always been lucky to have.

⁓ I didn't always have great managers, but I've you know figured out how to make it work again, so that again it was mutually beneficial and we were able to and to the end goal. would I ever work with some individuals again? No. But I grew from that, right? And I was exposed to wow, this is a really great approach.

Ginger Cooper (25:58)
Mm-hmm.

Madeline Farley (26:09)
Right.

Ginger Cooper (26:10)
Sure.

Yeah. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (26:15)
This is agree, you know, the way I want to lead the teams. But it was also super helpful to see the other side. So, you know, I can I can work with it, I can deal with it, I don't love it, but I will surely be very intentional not doing that if I can if I can help it. So I wouldn't change a thing. but a lot of the learnings that have that I've have had the experience with was from

Others leading by example. and again, always super lucky with v amazing leaders, right? And watching and having been allowed maybe to be there in person, side by side, through those challenging negative conversations have really taught me, okay, there's a

different way you don't have to pound your fist on the table to get to a resolution. There's a very different way, mutually amicable way to get to that final goal.

Madeline Farley (27:23)
Yeah, I I like that and I I think that's really respectful that each challenge was an opportunity to grow and every relationship mentor, you know, ⁓ client is just an opportunity for learning.

Olga Seltser (27:34)
That's how I tend to look at things and that's why I teach my teams. you know, you might not love something that you're doing, and that's and that's okay, right? You have to understand what rocks your boat, right? And or or what is something that you never want to do again. Life is short, right? So you better figure out what you enjoy and make the best out of it. That it, you know, maybe that's one way to look at it.

Ginger Cooper (28:02)
Ha have you always been like so self aware? Because what you're talking about actually, I mean, it's it's quite self aware, like even just from the communication, mutual beneficial and the awareness that you just talked about, you know, from like, you know, the challenges that you and Madeline were just discussing, that's that's like heavy in self awareness. And I'm just curious if that's always been innate to you.

Olga Seltser (28:21)
Mm.

I don't know that I can accurately assess that, right? because I think it's true for anybody. What we see how we see ourselves in the mirror is very different than how others see it. So as far as self-awareness goes, there've been a handful handful of times where through the grapevine or the conversations, people have called me intimidating. I'm like me.

Ginger Cooper (28:27)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Sure. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (28:50)
You're I'm probably gonna be the nicest, most self-aware person in the room that you'll ever be in. What do you mean I'm intimidating? So y you know, is that a compliment? Or is that a ding? Or is that

Ginger Cooper (29:02)
I don't know. I've heard

it too. I'm I'm assuming Madeline, you've heard it too. Yeah.

Madeline Farley (29:05)
⁓ yeah.

You know, I I

Olga Seltser (29:09)
But where's

it coming from, right? Is that a is that coming from a fellow female or is that a male's assessment? I I don't know, right? Because I never get the opportunity to do this face to face. Like, hey, what is it, right, about the experience that we've had that makes you call me intimidating? I'd love to know, and but maybe I don't want to know. I don't know.

Ginger Cooper (29:15)
No. Usually no.

Madeline Farley (29:37)
I think in this is my opinion, I think sometimes it is that self-assuredness and that self-awareness. ⁓ I I don't know that I hope that it is extremely common. I don't know that it always is. And so I think when people interact with that, sometimes they really have to get their bearings in those interactions.

Ginger Cooper (29:54)
Yeah. Yeah. And I think too, ⁓ it's so I've I've had similar feedback and it's been ⁓ provided male and female, right? So men and women. I think to Madeline's point, it's the self-insuredness, it's the directness. You talk about communication and how how important it's like one of your main pillars, right? Not everyone is comfortable with clear direct communication.

Olga Seltser (29:54)
Mm.

Mm.

Ginger Cooper (30:19)
And if

you come because I'm I'm hyper clear and direct because I don't do well with vague ambiguities. You know, if someone's toss talking ambiguities, I will drill into the question so that I fully understand what's on the table. And sometimes that's extremely off-putting because people aren't used to being what they consider to be like held accountable, right? And having to answer all of these questions. ⁓ but yeah, if you're self-assured, you know, confident and keen on having clear communication.

Olga Seltser (30:25)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (30:48)
It can be off-putting to people who stereotypically look at, you know, women are stereotypic stereotypically supposed to be soft and, you know, create this warm environment for people. And it doesn't mean that all of us aren't soft and warm. If I any of you know me, you know I have the biggest love for animals in the world. and if you ever catch me off mute talking to an animal, you will know that I am not scary.

But yeah, I think I think some of that is stereotypical just gender gender bias, right?

Olga Seltser (31:19)
But I

wonder how much of that is also cultural difference, right? So ⁓ I come from a different background, and especially in the field of STEM, there was much more equal representation between men and women, right? So I think some of that confidence is coming from that because I didn't know any different. Both of my parents, mom and dad, are engineers, you know, one's electrical, one is a computer engineer. So

Ginger Cooper (31:24)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Hm.

Olga Seltser (31:47)
You know, is it my upbringing? Is it the cultural difference? but that was in kind of that's how we were brought up, right? There wasn't beating around the bush. What you see is what you get, good or bad, right? And I've had to tailor my style a little bit here, in the United States, but I have also been here now for I think I'm coming on thirty-three years now. So

Ginger Cooper (31:56)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah.

Olga Seltser (32:14)
You know, I've been reshaped significantly, but some of the core foundational traits that are laid into you as, you know, an infant and toddler, ⁓ even preteen, they play such a major role in what any one of us is shaped to be. So, you know, maybe that's part of what comes across as

Ginger Cooper (32:20)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (32:40)
Intimidating. It's it's the cultural difference and what you mentioned, Ginger, about being open and transparent and and straight straightforward, right? ⁓ I think people that know me will attest to the fact that I do not love confrontation, right? So in general, I think that's the part of having a mutually beneficial experience because I would rather not go down that path.

Ginger Cooper (32:51)
Yeah.

Mm.

Olga Seltser (33:08)
But if s I see something is wrong, right, or it's unfair, unprofessional, what have you, I won't close my eyes and walk away from it, right? I will address it. I'd rather not get to that point. but I think maybe that's part of the advice or leadership advice is you see something is not fair, not right, not to the quality, not to your standard.

Madeline Farley (33:16)
Right.

Olga Seltser (33:33)
It's okay to call that out, right? And it doesn't matter male or female. Guys have no problems doing that, right? neither should women.

Madeline Farley (33:34)
Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (33:42)
Yeah. I was given the best advice years ago by some by a woman because I was like trying to figure out when to follow up on a job I wanted, right? That kind of thing, and I'm hemming and hawing and I didn't want to be a pain. and she said a guy wouldn't think that way. And and so for a lot of like from there, if I was ever faced with a I don't want to be too whatever, I'd think in my head, what would a guy do? You know, how would a guy operate? And normally

They would just go for it with all the the self assured confidence of of a dude, right? I guess how I sometimes want to live my life.

Olga Seltser (34:19)
In today's environment, you can ask AI, right? Pick your favorite engine. It's like, hmm, here's my situation. What what do you AI think of? A guy would do. ⁓ but the fact but the fact that we I that you even have to think that way, right? it it's an interesting challenge. I would be willing to bet my money that there's no guy out there.

Ginger Cooper (34:30)
How interesting.

Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (34:47)
When faced with a question situation, whatever, he you know, questions, huh, I wonder how a fellow woman would approach this, right? No way. There's absolutely no way. And maybe I'm wrong.

Ginger Cooper (35:02)
Madeline, maybe we should have a guy on and we can ask him.

Madeline Farley (35:04)
Well, I I almost I hope that there

are men in those situations going, I wonder how this is for a woman experiencing this. I d I do hope that there are men out there having those thoughts, but I think for me too, when I when I hesitate on a decision or an action

It's almost well, why am I hesitating, right? I think earlier you said we've got one life. We gotta, you know, take advantage of it. And also like what is the risk? If I think through, you know, you play a little devil's advocate, what's the what's the worst that could happen and you realize it's probably not a big deal, just go for it, right? That typically helps me work through some of those, whether they're inherent or environmental hesitations that I have about certain things, you know.

Olga Seltser (35:45)
Mm. And I think, Madeline, you're also you're asking the what, but I think part of your what is also the why, right? Such a powerful question. It's like, why, why am I having such a hard time with making this decision, right? It it comes back to self-awareness, communication, and listening. And sometimes it's listening to your own self, right? There's nothing wrong about.

Madeline Farley (35:51)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (36:04)
No.

Olga Seltser (36:14)
some quiet time, right? Self-reflection. and it is super difficult. I find it super difficult, day to day to find that quiet time. And it might be different for everybody, right? For me, I tend to do my most my best thinking is when I'm running or if I'm working out at the gym, right? I'm de stressing, but this is also my alone time.

Madeline Farley (36:25)
Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (36:31)
Sure. Of course. Yes.

Olga Seltser (36:36)
Right. And I let the thoughts kind of float around. And maybe I don't get to any sort of final decision, but that is the majority of the time that is the only opportunity that I get for quote unquote quiet time.

Ginger Cooper (36:48)
Yeah.

Madeline Farley (36:50)
Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (36:52)
I feel like too like what Madeline and you were are just talking about, it goes a lot to, and especially Madeline, when you're like, what's the worst that could happen? someone asked me once, Ginger, is anyone gonna die? Like, and I was like, No, you're right, they're not. Like, you know, this either or life or death, you know, it's not there. And ⁓ and then I think one of my favorite sayings, and I have it posted in a couple of places in my house, is

You know, if you're always thinking of what could go wrong, right? You know, and it's it's the flip of like, you know, what could go right. And so it like the saying is as simple as, ⁓ but what if you fly? Like, my darling, but what if you fly? Right. And and so it helps shift the perspective from this, what you know, what's the worst, like, or ⁓ like, you know, the catastrophic mindset to what what if it's not? What if it's the best thing ever? Right. And kind of moving

Madeline Farley (37:29)
Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (37:47)
That is an amazing

way to come or or look at a situation, right? Perspective makes such a huge difference. ⁓ and I think that's also a healthy way to look at perceived fire drills, maybe for lack of a better description, at in the in the professional environment. Like, my God, you have to get this done. Or what?

Ginger Cooper (37:51)
Yeah.

Madeline Farley (37:53)
Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (37:56)
They're pointing.

Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (38:12)
Do you have in I tend to use this phrase, do you have a patient dying on an operating table? No. So if you don't, that problem will still be there. Tomorrow, I will put all of the effort that I need to to get to a resolution. But guess what? There's life outside of work. work-life balance is something has to give.

Ginger Cooper (38:17)
Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (38:35)
Right. So I'm not necessarily a firm believer that work-life balance exists. It shifts. On any given day, you're the one that has to make the decision which one takes a back seat. Right. But there are sacrifices that we all make. So, you know, for everybody that says, yeah, I have a great work-life balance, no, you don't. Or if you do, if you ask the people around you, they will heavily disagree with that statement.

And that's okay. You have to shift that balance to the best of what works for you at any different, you know, any given day, any given place. and some places are crazier than others. and some people are crazier than others. But again, you only have one life to live.

Madeline Farley (39:09)
Mm-hmm.

Ginger Cooper (39:10)
Mm-hmm.

Ha ha ha ha.

so I think all of all of this is such such great from like the the lessons learned and just really how we operate in the world.

Right, you know, in in some of these, ⁓ you know, not, you know, benchmarking it against, you know, is anyone gonna die? I think it's great. But, you know, kinda, you know, complete pivot here because we've talked a lot, I think, about, you know, ⁓ earlier in the conversation about like who you admire, right, and people who have inspired you and really led you. What I'm curious about now is more forward looking. You know, you work at, you know, and you're leading automation, right, at a a tech first service provider.

One, you know, I've worked at robotic cloud labs, right? And and been in the the kind of forefront, like the the the early days of what you're doing, I feel. Where do you see the industry going next in the future, right? This everything's having this resurgence in, you know, it's day in the sun finally, after like 10 years of all of this conversation, where do you see it going?

Olga Seltser (40:24)
I think you're seeing it as well, ⁓ automation is hot again. It was not a hot topic for a long time. ⁓ for whatever you know, for a long list of reasons, right? Complicated, expensive, long lead times, blah, you know, inflexible, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But

Ginger Cooper (40:31)
Mm. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (40:46)
Everybody's picking up on the bandwagon of AI-enabled science, AI driven labs. Awesome. How exactly are you going to execute on that if you have a manual workflow in the lab? AI has tremendous potential, not on its own. you need the super bright scientists assessing, analyzing.

those models, building those models, training those models. But it the best way to train those models is by reproducible, predictable, very well controlled processes. And maybe I'm biased, and I am biased on that, but the only way to get there is by incorporating automation and by introducing automation.

From day one, all of your development in the labs across and it doesn't matter if it's a small startup, if it's big pharma, ⁓ it is a lot harder, I feel like, for the, you know, the big behemoths to ⁓ change course. And it has to be, it has to be approached from all the different angles. Because it's not just the hardware, right? When I talk about automation, it's the software is such a huge component, right? The data science.

Ginger Cooper (41:51)
Yeah.

Olga Seltser (42:07)
In the scientists. So all of those have to come together. And I think this is where the industry is pivoting. And we're seeing it at events like the SLAS and some of the other ones. we we're starting to align a little bit better on the language that's being used ⁓ across all of these verticals, and they have to be, in my mind, equally strong. Those pillars, the science, automation, and software.

Ginger Cooper (42:18)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Olga Seltser (42:36)
have to be equally strong for a successful partnership. So where we're heading, I I think there's no doubt in my mind that it's, you know, the AI wave, but it has to be supported and enabled by automation in the lab. My take on it.

Ginger Cooper (42:51)
So

yeah, no, for sure. And I there's like a couple of viewpoints. I don't personally agree with them, but that they're out there that say that in the future you won't even need wet labs, that you can do a lot of the science just with, you know, all the the data that's being collected now. I mean, one, I think to go back to the automation having its day in the sun again or as qu you know, is is hot again.

I laughed because I I instantly thought of fashion. And I was like, it's it's purple. Yeah, it's what's old is new again. And ⁓ and I was like, we're right with like the nineties jeans fashion. ⁓ but do you what about this controversial, in my mind it's controversial take that you won't need wet lab science.

Olga Seltser (43:22)
It comes full circle, right? History repeats itself, yes.

For sure.

It will look very different, right? The days I in my opinion, I think the days of high throatput screening have been long gone. I in the in the in the way that we knew high throatput screening. Right. Exactly.

Ginger Cooper (43:43)
Okay. Yeah.

our traditional old school like hundreds

of thousands of plates, you know, a a day. Right. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (43:58)
Kind

of just mindful screening to see if there's any hits, right? HIIT identification. Your high throughput is gonna look very different because it was predicted by the models that are, you know, have been AI enabled, but also trained with very targeted, very skilled sign scientific insight. So are we gonna do wet lab?

Ginger Cooper (44:03)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Olga Seltser (44:26)
how do you how else do you actually prove that what your models are predicting is true? ⁓ there's a huge regulatory compliance that is in place for for good reasons, right? If I was to say ginger, you get I don't know, you get headaches on a certain frequency. Here's a medicine that

Ginger Cooper (44:30)
I know. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (44:54)
Will make you feel so much better. But we never tested it in the lab. So just trust me that my AI model said it's gonna be great, it's gonna help. There's no toxicity, you're not gonna have any side effects. Run with it. Are you gonna do it? Are you gonna t are you gonna take that pill?

Ginger Cooper (44:59)
Yeah.

Okay. I mean me

no, but maybe like future versions of people might who knows? I don't know, but I wouldn't know.

Olga Seltser (45:18)
Mm,

I don't know if it would happen in in my ⁓ I am skeptical as well. And maybe it's a short maybe it's a short-sighted view. ⁓ I think just like a good example are simulation runs on automation. They are good, they are helpful, they speed up the development cycle. But boy, have I gotten burned in my experience if I didn't actually have that wet run. It's like

Ginger Cooper (45:21)
I'm a skeptical Gen Xer. I'm not going to do anything without fruit.

Yeah.

Sure, yeah.

Yeah.

Hundred percent. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (45:46)
Did you

actually test this with water before you went on vacation and told me that this works? I'm like, ⁓ was that important? ⁓ yeah, we ran out of volume because simulation does not, at least in its current form, fully exemplify ⁓ all of the real real life scenarios. It will get better. ⁓ I just I'm skeptical about the no wet lab aspect.

Ginger Cooper (45:53)
Yeah. Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

But

I agree. I absolutely agree. cool. Okay. So yeah, I I ⁓ I love your take on where the industry's going next. I see I see it too, obviously. You know, I think everybody is finally standardizing on what they mean when they say like this AI almost, you Yeah, the AI. it's like what the cloud used to be back in, you know, back when the cloud first started, you know, becoming a a thing.

Madeline Farley (46:33)
So we've had a really good discussion here today, but I I think that our listeners would be really interested to know what do you think thriving in science is? What does it mean to you?

Olga Seltser (46:44)
That's a great question.

I think to sum it up is to have a seat at the table. Whatever that means to you in any particular case, getting that seat to me is meaningful. That means some you have the respect, you have the credibility, there's trust that's been put into you to be at that table.

is very, very meaningful to me. So, ⁓ you know, it I'm sure you can look at it from all the different angles. ⁓ but if somebody's asking for your opinion, that already says a lot about what they value, what they've ⁓ come to expect of you and that you're making an impact.

Because they care, right? They put in the time, they put in the effort, they bother to consider your thoughts, your opinions, your expertise, what have you. So yeah, I think to me, thriving, and it's it's not just in science, I think it's anywhere, is having that seat at the table. And it doesn't necessarily need to be a decision making table, ⁓ but informational, sharing. yeah, I I

I think that would be super meaningful if you asked me about thriving. What does thriving mean?

Ginger Cooper (48:11)
I like that. That's really cool.

Madeline Farley (48:12)
Yeah, me too. Having

Olga Seltser (48:13)
maybe? Sappy? Is it sappy? No.

Ginger Cooper (48:16)
No, that's perfect.

Madeline Farley (48:19)
Yeah, I I think it's so true. It's it's having that space, but also knowing that there's confidence and trust in you to do to make the most of that space, you know.

Ginger Cooper (48:29)
Yeah. That's super meaningful. Mm-hmm. Hey, Olga, thank you so much for being our like our guest on the show today and more so being our first guest on Thrive in Science. ⁓ I mean, I think everything that you you talked about, just some of the highlights here are, you know, really focusing on how communication is important. really like one of like the key ⁓

Olga Seltser (48:31)
Totally agree.

Ginger Cooper (48:51)
Tenants, I think, for you is like, you know, communication, mutual understanding, like situational awareness as well as self-awareness, just awareness in general, perspective, and this trust that you spoke of just now, and you know, having that seat at the table, whatever that table looks like for you. because everybody's table could be different, but you know, having that table and having the trust.

of your you know, your peers and in, you know, everybody around you, ⁓ just being asked your your input on things is is key.

Yeah, that's great. Yeah.

Olga Seltser (49:24)
I love the way you summed it up.

Madeline Farley (49:25)
Mm. Mm-hmm.

Olga Seltser (49:27)
but I think I think it all comes down to trust and respect, right? And you can build

so much just those simple but essential pillars.

Ginger Cooper (49:36)
really happy to have you on the show today. And thanks. ⁓

Olga Seltser (49:39)
Thank

you for the opportunity. It was nice nice to have this chance. I don't typically have an opportunity to chat about this particular topic. You know, it tends to be more tech heavy. So this is definitely a change of pace. And you are pushing me outside of my comfort zone, I'm sharing things. I'm sharing things that I don't typically share. So this this was great.

Ginger Cooper (49:56)
Well, apparently you enjoy that.

Madeline Farley (49:58)
Me yeah.

Ginger Cooper (50:03)
Well, as we heard earlier in the conversation, it's one of the things that stands out to you the most and where you've had like the most, you know, successes is when you're pushed outside your comfort zone. Maybe we'll see you on a on a stage someday talking about these things. Maybe. Yeah. ⁓

Olga Seltser (50:12)
For

Madeline Farley (50:12)
Exactly.

Yeah.

Olga Seltser (50:19)
A tad talk being pushed outside of the comfort zone.

Ginger Cooper (50:23)
Anyway, thanks so much. ⁓ and thanks everybody for listening in today for our first guest on our Thrive in Science. Again, Olga Seltzer from Dash Bio. We really appreciate you.