LabOps_Jessica Beltran: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.
Samantha Black:
By building a platform to share challenges, network, and thoughts from leaders, the LabOps Leadership Podcast is elevating LabOps professionals as well as the industry as a whole. With the intent of unlocking the power of LabOps, we deliver unique insights to execute the mission at hand, standardize the practice of LabOps, their development, and training. Welcome to the LabOps Leadership Podcast.
Kerri Anderson:
Hi, I’m Kerri Anderson. I am one of the co-founders of the LabOps Unite Group, and I’m really excited to be here with our guest today.
Samantha Black:
Thanks, Kerri. Yeah, we’re super excited for Jessica Beltran, Associate Director of Lab Operations at Seeker Bio, to be with us today. We’re so excited for this conversation and I think it’s going to be really interesting. Thanks for joining us today, Jessica.
Jessica Beltran:
Thank you for having me.
Samantha Black:
Awesome, so let’s jump right in. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you got to where you are today and a little bit about your background?
Jessica Beltran:
Sure, I guess you could say that this all started when I was six months old, even though at that point I don’t really fully remember. Six months old is when I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. That’s why the doctor first told my mom that I have alopecia areata, which is a autoimmune disease that causes hair loss, hence why right now I have no hair whatsoever. So that kind of was the beginning of my first interest in autoimmune disease and science and rare diseases like that. So that’s me into knowing I wanted to be in science. After undergrad I began my career in science itself, managing a lupus lab at Beth Israel here in Boston, and that’s where I first gained exposure and my first experience on the back end of immunology work, doing actual bench work and my work every single day as a research associate. And also there, kind of where I learned that I actually prefer to be in the management side of it, like the lab management operations versus at the bench itself and doing actual experience or experiments. So when that opportunity there at the lupus lab came to expand it into two locations, I jumped on that and after three years there, I then actually pursued my master’s in science at Tufts, and the intent of that was that I wanted to be able to approach science management in a more holistic view of animal, people’s … Kind of there’s where I took my segway in my career and I started working for Hines for Amazon facilities out in Seattle. The tech experience basically of the past couple of years that I have, and that’s where I evolved what I had learned in the lupus lab into giant macro program management experience. And I had to do that over, I mean, at that point it was like 20 million square feet of Amazon corporate offices and had an exposure and full, full immersion in Lean Six Sigma techniques, which was something that was once in a lifetime, I think for lab management, having that experience within tech and facilities and standardization manufacturing. So that was Amazon in Seattle. And probably the most interesting title that I had while there was the Amazon Dogs at Work Program Manager. So I was actually a program manager for people bringing their dogs to work every day, which is wonderful, and again, probably the best title I’ll ever have, no matter how … For about five years there in Seattle, that’s when I returned to science, came back to Boston, and I worked for Pandion Therapeutics as their lab manager. Probably the biggest thing there was I was responsible for moving the lab at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, launching that new lab, and then scaling it so that it ran smoothly through the pandemic itself an IPO, and then eventually acquisition by Merck last year. I like to refer to myself as an efficiency expert in lab operations and somebody that really prides himself on enabling science that benefits autoimmune patients like me with little therapeutic options. So when I said it was six months old when this all started, that’s when I first, I didn’t realize it at the time, but I know that that was something that was kind of key into, I want to enable the science that’s going to help people like me one day. After Merck’s acquisition of Pandion, that’s when I took an opportunity at Mediar, a company focused on drug myofibroblasts, and then after I moved that company and scaled it so that it could, create it so that it could scale effectively, I’m now at a Seeker Biologics …
Samantha Black:
That’s amazing, I think it’s a very inspiring story. I think that can resonate with a lot of people. We all have some personal connection to science and what motivates us, and I think you hit on the heartstrings there like that gets down to, you know, some of us have some connection and we are just motivated by it, I love it. Sounds like you’ve done amazing things I want to zone in right now on Seeker Bio and understand what you guys are doing and why you took this opportunity to be invested in development of drugs and immunotherapies and why you took a chance on Seeker Bio.
Jessica Beltran:
So we’re still in stealth mode. I really can’t say much about what we’re doing, but I can say that I’m super excited to be here, and excited to be part of the team. Once all of that becomes public knowledge, I’d be happy to talk more about it and unfortunately, I just can’t.
Samantha Black:
Okay, that makes total sense. I was looking on the internet and I’m like, Where is this company? I can’t find it. But that’s how, that’s part of the system, right? Like you’re, you know, you’re really invested in something that, some technology, some innovation, and you’re really bought in on it. So I think that says a lot in and of itself, and so we’ll kind of glide over that. I want to ask my question about, coming from a facilities management background, how has that helped you in being a better lab manager? Is that, are you actively using that experience in your newer roles and positions? Like that’s not something that every lab manager has experience with. So I’m kind of wondering if you could touch on that a little bit.
Jessica Beltran:
Yeah, definitely, obviously those five years at Amazon, I mean, the pace of Amazon is well known. Like everybody says there, that one year there has the equivalent of five years at any other company with the pace and the growth that they have, and working with Hines for Amazon facility was extremely valuable. I mean, there I had a manager that taught me everything about Lean Six Sigma techniques, how manufacturing lines can be standardized to better scale and adapt to demand. Just learning basic, first of all, like how a building works, how a lease works, how to better learn what the front line looks like, just basic management consulting and management consulting and practices. I learned at Amazon with operational excellence, working with facilities management, at one point being an assistant facilities manager, and then ultimately with the Dogs at Work Program Manager. I was the first program manager for that HR benefit. Previous to my position and … been an administrative benefit on behalf of Amazon HR. When that opportunity kind of came up with the Dogs at Work Program Manager and then I got it, my goal was to maximize the resources that I had, and at that time Amazon was at about 20 million square feet that had buildings that could allow dogs. And I had to learn to take all the stuff that I had learned there within operational excellence, Lean Six Sigma, basic manufacturing principles, and how to run that program as a one-person team. I was the only full-time employee on it to make sure this program, the events, the registrations, anything that came about with it would provide a consistent experience for amazonians, vendors, and, funniest part is, the four-legged end users that I had, dogs themselves. Kind of those five years within tech have made me able to look at LabOps and I’m looking off to the side because I’m looking at my lab, probably the biggest example of that, so there’s a practice within Lean Six Sigma where you are told as your upper management, your leadership, the people who are typically distanced from the front line itself. It’s called Gemba walking where you’re in there, you’re walking, you’re doing the work of your frontline workers to make you better at making the decisions and the strategy in the conference room. That’s the strategy that I learned from my manager and operational excellence at Amazon, and I’ve taken that to labs and take that to heart as anybody that I work with. Okay, before we make a decision, we got to be in the lab for at least three weeks to figure out what the best plan is here, we can’t just assume. I would say that it probably gives me a unique perspective on the lab because I can see outside of it and it’s kind of instilled in me now that every single day, whatever systems that I make in the lab have to be able to scale and have to be able to be improved every single time I’ve touched it. And I think that’s, ultimately, because I, experience at Hines for Amazon showed me that I have to be able to respond to the demand like that.
Samantha Black:
Yeah, I think that’s incredible. I’m going to pass it over to Kerri because I could just go on for days. I think it’s fascinating. So I’ll let her talk.
Kerri Anderson:
Yeah, I agree, I just love your passion for efficiency, it’s so important for the lab. So one question I have is, you’ve worked at a variety of different labs and organizations, and I’m sure you’ve faced some common struggles within drug development or just within the lab. What are some of those struggles and how have you worked to overcome those?
Jessica Beltran:
I think one, I would probably get home to all LabOps people, especially during the pandemic, was the supply chain shortage of just basic consumables in any lab, everything from like filter systems to cryo bottles, which is the current RON centrifuge bottles, things of that sort are all like backordered six, seven months. I can’t even touch on the equipment because that’s a whole new ballgame, but when it comes to consumables, popular consumables that the scientists need every single day to keep their workflows going, I’d say that that’s been one of the biggest struggles common to all the labs that I’ve worked with now. And then, that’s one side of the problem, I would say the other side is also that even when supply chains are quote-unquote normal, that popular consumables standardizing that order process, I’m saying process specifically, I can kind of tell you if we have time, like the difference between systems and process in my mind, but again, there’s the Amazon, Hines and Amazon coming out of me, but popular consumables are not being standardized in the lab. So usually you see that things are ordered by different people, different times, different vendors, and it causes a really disjointed and poor supply of high-need items in the lab for all the major workflows that need to run consistently. There’s no standards as to who’s responsible for what. So the common things, like I mentioned, even if supply chains were fine, probably aren’t going to be in stock or you have to find the squirreled away little stocks of them somewhere that somebody hid in an emergency. I found that as something that’s pretty prevalent in the labs that I’ve been in. So one of the things that I led, or led initiatives on, or led a team on is creating a streamlined system that removes the obstacles that I mentioned from before and generate some kind of consistency in communication. And it could be as simple as labeling just one location for every single thing that, it can be as simple as that. I like to improve everything that I touch, but I also want to give the ability for other people to do that within the lab. So one of the things that I tell people, you know, for what like even just my friends that are also in labs, like, hey, if you don’t have somebody that can sit there and do an inventory and label common locations for things that you guys need, just label one place and people will automatically start putting them there. And then you also want to make it adaptable to demands and special orders. So when you make a system for common consumables, common lab consumables like this, you want to make sure that it’s prescriptive in the sense that you can depend on it, you know what you’re going to get every single time, but you also want to make it flexible so that you can add in unpredictable things. Science is unpredictable, or probably the best example I can give of that is, in my previous company, we had a wayback system and all of a sudden we need a massive amount of media for that. That wasn’t something that was commonly on the common lab consumables system that I was leading, but that’s as simple as saying the science is saying, Hey, I have to order, I’m just going to throw it a number. I don’t get off the top of my head, 300 liters of this media right now. I can say, okay, cool, you know, I have an order in line thermo this week, I’ll put it in there, and help us get some cost savings on that order. Does that kind of answer the question?
Kerri Anderson:
Yeah, absolutely. That’s one I think we can all relate to. I know something I think none of us expected to happen, but was something, we had to adjust to and figure out.
Jessica Beltran:
Yep, ordering is also probably one of the funnest solutions I’ve seen happen right now to the lab managers so, it works.
Kerri Anderson:
Yeah, so something you’ve talked about is being efficient in the lab and ways to do that, and I think we can all agree in LabOps that we’re really focused on ways that we can bring drugs to the market faster and how we can help make a difference. What’s something you’ve seen or heard that can make a difference in LabOps to be more efficient?
Jessica Beltran:
I would definitely say, so there is a book called The Frontline Obsession. I don’t know if you’re familiar. It’s from Bain and Company, was published in 2015, 2016, 2017. They talk about it as frontline obsession. I’ve seen it be really successful. It’s something I’ve adapted as well where I’ve worked, is that you want to minimize the distance between the people, the scientific leadership, the people who are making the decisions for the company, the strategy for science, and the company itself, operations. Minimize distance between those people at the top and, as Bain called it, the frontline, and I think I’ve been calling at the frontline as well. But the scientists in this case, when it comes to the lab, what works really well and to make a company, I think, a lab run more efficiently is when the feedback, the recommendations, the talents of those who are in the lab is taken as an asset as much as your technology is, as much as your equipment is, all of that are tangible things. The people as well that are in there doing the bench work and also the people within LabOps, I will say that, having that direct avenue feedback between the people who are making the decisions and the carpeted area, I’m pointing to the carpet right now, and people who are on the tile working in the lab relying on that feedback from people who are in the trenches every single day and not solely relying on the middle managers, I think really gives a company competitiveness that you might not have if there’s too much distance between the people who are making the decisions and the people who are actually in the lab doing the science every single day. And within that same line, it’s LabOps themselves. One of the best things that I love currently and in the past that I’ve also loved is when LabOps gets a seat at the table with the C-suite, the leadership, your VPs, people that are sitting there talking about operations, having somebody from LabOps in the trenches every single day with the scientists doing the work helps the company get more valuable insights and ideas on how to support the science better and make it more efficient. So I would say that again, I’m treating the feedback of the people who are at the front line as an asset like you do anything else in a company is pivotal in making a company more efficient.
Kerri Anderson:
Yeah, 100%. I think you really hit the nail on the head with that one. I think those communication pathways are so important, and something often overlooked.
Jessica Beltran:
Yeah, I love being able to do that. Currently, I’m able to do that and it’s great.
Kerri Anderson:
Yeah, so what would you say is the biggest lesson you’ve learned or some advice you have for our listeners?
Jessica Beltran:
Well, if you are in LabOps, I would say, in a logistical level, get a facilities manager to work with you in partnership and if that’s not possible, if you can take a kind of facilities one-on-one course, that’s even better. It helps just to know the basics of what’s going on in facilities. I know this personally very much helped me after my time with Amazon and Hines, and I think on a bigger level I would, there’s two pieces of advice I would give. First is never assume, and that was something my manager told me at times was, never assume, plan for your contingency plan even if your planning fails, and I learned that moving a lab in the middle of the pandemic, that you never going to plan for a pandemic that happen in the middle of something, but it can happen. You’re never going to plan for something going wrong in the lab, but it’s going to happen. So you should always know how your plan B and plan C is going to work if Plan A fails, don’t assume. And I think the other lesson would be to treat your vendors for the lab, for your daily company operations like lab themselves. When you’re talking about the people that supply your gas, people that do your EHNS, the people that clean your water … filtration system for your lab, value them, talk to them, take care of them, because without them you can’t grow effectively, or as I said, when it comes to the scientists and your LabOps people, you can’t be competitive without valuing them. So I think growing a company is synonymous with treating the employees and also your vendors, your contractors, the people that are giving you the basic services every day that you just walk by because they’re doing their thing, you know, treat them like your own employees, value them.
Kerri Anderson:
I love that. I love the focus on people because, at the end of the day, the people are going to get us across the finish line. The technology and innovation are just a byproduct of the people, so I love that message. I think the world would be a better place if we just all treated people with the same amount of respect no matter who they are, so I love that message. Jessica, this has been great. I want to give you an opportunity to just share with our listeners how they can keep up with you if they’re really passionate about, or serious about learning about management facilities, facilities management, or any type of LabOps practices that you put into place. How can they stay in touch or how can they find you and learn more about what you’re doing? I know you’re kind of in stealth mode right now, but is there a way that they can connect with you?
Jessica Beltran:
LinkedIn is probably the best way to connect with me. I’m always happy to connect and learn how other labs are kind of weathering the storm right now or how they do their systems with consumables. You know, it’s always fun to share with other professionals in the ecosystem of lab operations. I would say, yeah, LinkedIn. Linkedin is probably the best route for that.
Kerri Anderson:
Awesome, well, this has been an amazing conversation. I’ve learned a lot and been really inspired. So, Jessica, thank you so much for joining us. It’s been really great. I, you know, best of luck at Seeker. I think it’s probably going to be great, but we look forward to hearing what you guys do in the future.
Jessica Beltran:
Thank you! Thank you very much, both of you.
Samantha Black:
Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the LabOps Leadership Podcast. We hope you enjoyed today’s guest. For show notes, resources, and more information about LabOps Unite, please visit us at LabOps.Community/Podcast. This show is powered by Elemental Machines.
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