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