#88 Hydrogel Tech and Lab Automation with Sinan Golhan: Hydrogel Robotics, Startup Fundraising and Battlefield Medicine

Sinan Gölhan, Founder and CEO of GelTech is helping scientists develop life-saving hydrogel treatments faster through automation. From cancer-fighting gels to battlefield-ready biomaterials, Sinan’s journey fuses deep technical insight with an intensely personal mission.

In this episode, we talk about why hydrogels, the “Jell-O of medicine”, are so important in modern biotech, and how Sinan’s frustration with repetitive lab work led him to build robotic systems to accelerate testing. He shares hard-won lessons from early fundraising, what labs get wrong about automation, and how he turned rejection into resilience. We also dive into the world of battlefield bleeding control, nanotech-based drug delivery, and the future of AI-driven materials science.

Timestamps:

[00:00:18] What Are Hydrogels and Why They Matter

[00:02:30] A Personal Mission: Cancer, Family and Science

[00:04:45] From Lab Frustration to Robotic Innovation

[00:06:33] Fundraising Real Talk: Angels, Grants, and Grit

[00:10:42] How GelTech’s Platform Actually Works

[00:13:33] Hydrogels in Your Fridge and in the OR

[00:14:54] Why Lab Automation Isn’t a Luxury

[00:16:23] The Coming Wave of Smart Materials

[00:20:11] Battlefield Nanotech: Bleeding Control with Gels

[00:27:25] Advice to Founders: Obsession, Vision and Persistence

Get in touch with Sinan - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinan-g%C3%B6lhan-a49691b6/

Learn more about Exagen - https://www.geltechlabs.com/

Get in touch with Karandeep Badwal - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karandeepbadwal/

Follow Karandeep on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@KarandeepBadwal

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