Trends from the Trenches

Episode: 45 - Ben Busby on Genomics at GPU Speed

Genomics is moving fast, but how do we get biology the hardware and software it deserves? Ben Busby, NVIDIA’s global alliances manager for omics, joins host Eleanor Howe to dig into the practical crossroads of GPU computing, open-source bioinformatics, and the next wave of precision medicine. They get specific about what GPU acceleration changes in day-to-day genomics and single-cell analysis. Faster pipelines can mean lower costs, tighter iteration loops, and newly feasible questions. They also explore the hardest bottleneck—reliable longitudinal multi-omics data—and challenge a popular assumption about AI in biomedicine: bigger isn’t always better. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Diamond Age Data Science NVIDIA Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 44 - Knowledge Graphs Turning Life Science Data into Answers

AI is moving fast in life sciences, but a confident answer is not the same thing as a correct, reproducible, auditable answer. Knowledge graphs, ontologies, and FAIR data practices are the keys to bridging this gap. Knowledge3's Tom Plasterer, CEO and co-founder, and Eric Little, chief data officer, join host Allison Proffitt to discuss what it takes to turn semantics into something practical: a knowledge product mindset, modular delivery, and “semantic ops” that can better manage data systems. Their conversation challenges the hype cycle around context graphs, explains why life sciences are a natural starting point for regulated, high-stakes AI, and shows how layered models can capture the right level of context without building a giant monolith that never takes off. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe Knowledge3 Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 43 - The Hard Truth about Digital R&D: Patterns, Pitfalls, and the Next Wave of Innovation

At last month’s Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, Eleanor Howe, founder and CEO of Diamond Age Data Science, presented the Trends with the Trenches session based on gathered input from colleagues, clients, and advisors across the life sciences field. Coding agents were the central topic—how they’re speeding up software development, open source maintenance, and analysis workflows while also shifting new types of responsibility to the human reviewer. Now, “just coding” is no longer enough, and Howe provides advice for early-career scientists on how to get hired in a different environment. Plus, she covers why simulating data can backfire, why smaller purpose-built models often win, and why better data curation, active learning, ELN automation, and federation may matter more than another flashy model demo. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World Conference & Expo Bio-IT World BioTeam Diamond Age Data Science Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 42 - Adam Marko on AI-Ready Life Sciences Data

Your AI plan can’t outrun your data. Adam Marko, life science field CTO at Hammerspace, joins the podcast to unpack the problem almost every biotech, pharma, and biomedical research group runs into: unstructured data that are siloed, fragmented, and scattered across storage systems, sites, and clouds. With host Jessica StLouis, they talk through what “data orchestration” means when building an AI-ready data foundation, infrastructure constraints and the tiered storage patterns that help teams keep AI and HPC workloads moving, and why life sciences are in a uniquely tough spot. Plus, Marko shares a preview of his presentation at Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston. If you care about faster discovery, smoother AI workflows, and fewer manual file moves, subscribe, share this with a colleague, and rate or review so more researchers can find the conversation. Links from this episode: From Data Chaos to Discovery: Building the Data Foundation for AI-Ready Scientific Research Bio-IT World Conference & Expo Bio-IT World BioTeam Hammerspace Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 41 - Sonia Timberlake on Agentic AI for Biotech Coders

AI is now good enough to change how computational biology teams actually work, but most companies are still adopting it like it’s 2023. Sonia Timberlake, R&D strategy consultant for Timberlake & Maclsaac Biopharma Consulting, speaks with host Eleanor Howe about what’s real: agentic coding, high-throughput data workflows, and the practical limits that still slow teams down. Timberlake digs into benchmarks for capabilities and end-to-end tasks, as well as multimodal chart understanding, source verification, and where human review remains non-negotiable. The conversation also explores beyond AI to what biopharma risks missing, why novel targets still matter, and where investment interest is clustering right now. Plus, tune in to get a preview of Timberlake’s workshop at Bio-IT World Conference & Expo in Boston next month! If this helped you think more clearly about AI in drug development and computational biology, subscribe, share the show with a colleague, and leave a review so more builders can find the conversation. Links from this episode: Workshop: AI Upskilling for Computational Biology Teams Bio-IT World BioTeam Diamond Age Data Science Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 40 - Allissa Dillman and LaFrancis Gibson on the Power of Hackathons

Joining Trends from the Trenches is Allissa Dillman, founder and CEO of BioData Sage, and LaFrancis Gibson, manager for health promotion at ORAU, who discuss this year’s Bio-IT World Conference & Expo Hackathon sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Common Fund Data Ecosystem (CFDE) Training Center. With host Allison Proffitt, they discuss which tools and datasets from CFDE will be part of the Hackathon, who should participate, learning and collaborating beyond datasets and tools, FAIR principles in an ever-developing AI environment, and a message beyond the teams that are participating. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe BioData Sage ORAU Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 39 - Jarett DeAngelis and Shane Corder on Simplifying HPC Resources

Computing resources are no longer just pieces of tech—they're scientific instruments. Moffitt Cancer Center’s Jarett DeAngelis, director of scientific information technology, and Shane Corder, senior HPC engineer, join cohost Jessica StLouis, senior scientific consultant at BioTeam, to discuss new approaches changing access to HPC resources and how platforms like Open OnDemand are simplifying the HPC experience for those unfamiliar with the system. They also share their thoughts on the future of HPC resources, what the Moffitt Cancer Center is planning, and what they expect to see in the field in the coming years. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe Moffitt Cancer Center Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 38 - Third Rock’s John Keilty on What Lies Ahead for Bioinvestment

As the new year settles in, the industry is anticipating new innovative biotech and learning from past failures. John Keilty, venture partner at Third Rock Ventures, discusses the current trends he sees in biopharma investment, separating the hype from reality of AI (and if the AI bubble will eventually pop), other ventures that should be considered, and how new companies are being built today compared to past years in this episode of Trends from the Trenches. With host Eleanor Howe, founder and CEO of Diamond Age Data Science, Keilty also reflects on the biotech failures of past years and shares his thoughts on the role of computational biologists these days, as well as where bioinvesting is working and not working now. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe Diamond Age Data Science Third Rock Ventures Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 37 - A Father’s Mission to Find a Cure: Casey McPherson on Rare Disease Research

Rare diseases do not receive enough attention for the impact they have on patients and their families. This is what AlphaRose’s founder and CEO Casey McPherson learned after his daughter was diagnosed with a rare condition. In a conversation with host Ari Berman, McPherson shares how he switched from music to founding his own pharmaceutical company, what technologies AlphaRose is developing, and how his company is creating environments that allow innovation and iteration. He also shares his thoughts on embracing failure in order to make progress and emphasizes holding compassion and understanding for the patients and families that are impacted by rare diseases—because you never know what it’s like until it happens to you. Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 36 - David Hewlett on Making Learning Fun and Data Standardization

David Hewlett, founder of Tech Bandits, makes learning fun and creates an environment where children—the future generation of scientists—can feel comfortable with curiosity. With host Ari Berman, Hewlett delves into his acting career, which consists of a wide range of scientist roles, and the origins of Tech Bandits. He also shares his thoughts on how science needs to be communicated better (and why scientists need to know how to present their work to the world), what technology can help with regarding the future of life sciences and healthcare, and standardizing data. Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

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Episode: 35 - A Farewell to Stan Gloss: Founding BioTeam, Words of Wisdom, and More

In this special transition episode of Trends from the Trenches, Ari Berman, CEO of BioTeam, takes the mic as the new host of the Trends from the Trenches podcast and speaks with founding host Stan Gloss, co-founder of BioTeam. During their conversation, they cover Stan’s journey as an entrepreneur, including the valuable lessons learned along the way, words of wisdom for people on similar paths, and what he is most proud of during his time at the company. Stan also discusses the impact dyslexia has had on his career and life and his new areas of research. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe African Centers of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Data-Intensive Sciences: Building The Technology Foundations For Global Growth Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode: 34 - Discussing HPCs and Research Computing With Dirk Petersen

In the first Trends from the Trenches episode of 2025, host Stan Gloss and Dirk Petersen, Director of Supercomputing Center at Oregon State University, talk about the state and role of HPCs in a world that’s focused on AI. Petersen offers his thoughts and insights on working with AI teams, how to converge the traditional HPC user with the AI user, the “Wild West” of AI infrastructure and computing power, and how AI is driving a renaissance in scientific computing and high-performance computing. He also shares a preview of what he will be discussing as a speaker at Bio-IT World Conference & Expo 2025. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe Oregon State University Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode:33 - Renee Iacona Discusses AI/ML Expertise, Data Management, and Oncology

In this episode of Trends from the Trenches, host Stan Gloss and Renee Iacona, vice president of Oncology Biometrics, Oncology R&D at AstraZeneca, discuss the process of matching patients with the right treatments, data management (particularly around oncology), and the value of knowledge graphs. Iacona mentions the importance of having scientists who understand AI/ML and AI/ML experts who understand science. She also shares what AstraZeneca is doing with AI, how oncology has changed over the past 20 years, her thoughts on multimodal data, and advice for new scientists and start-up companies taking their first steps into the field. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe AstraZeneca Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode: 32 - Rémy Evard on Organizing Trials, Declining Resources, and AI Development

In this episode of Trends from the Trenches, host Stan Gloss discusses high-performance computing and its progress over the years with Rémy Evard, chief digital officer and head of technology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). They delve into the impact of cloud technology, the rapid development of AI (and the overexcitement around it), and the current industry-wide issue of maintaining healthcare quality during a time of declining resources. Evard also shares the responsibilities and challenges of his position at MSK, as well as the work the organization does, such as running thousands of clinical trials per year. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode: 31 - Tom Plasterer on Going From Pharma to Start-Up, Graph Technology, and More

In this episode of Trends from the Trenches, host Stan Gloss speaks with industry veteran Tom Plasterer, managing director of life sciences innovation at XponentL Data. Plasterer shares his journey of how he became an industry leader, how his time at BG Medicine (then known as Beyond Genomics) helped him with his time at AstraZeneca, what graph technology is and its benefits, and why he returned to start-up companies with XponentL Data. He also gives advice based on his 20+ years of experience in the field to up and coming scientists following in his tracks. Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode: 30 - Howard Jacob On Funding, Rare Diseases, and the Origins of ARCH

In this episode of Trends from the Trenches, host Stan Gloss speaks with Howard Jacob, vice president of genomics research at AbbVie. They discuss Jacob’s beginnings at AbbVie, data siloing and “my data vs. our data” issues, and the role of funding in plan execution and leadership support. Jacob also delves into the origins of the AbbVie R&D Convergence Hub (ARCH—winner of a 2023 Bio-IT World Innovative Practices Award), how they secured a sizable investment for its development, leveraging ARCH for rare diseases, and the strategy behind disseminating info that was generated by ARCH. Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode 29 - Discussing Compute Research and Support in Academia With Ruth Marinshaw

Tune into this month’s episode of Trends from the Trenches, where host Stan Gloss and Ruth Marinshaw, CTO of Research Computing at Stanford University, talk about the accomplishments and challenges of supporting a diverse population of researchers in academia. Marinshaw also delves into building a reliable and trustworthy service, computational infrastructure as an essential tool for the lab, what FAIR data means to her at Stanford, and her thoughts on AI and its impact. Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode: 28 - Bio-IT World Expo: Trends from the Trenches with Ari Berman

In this special episode of the Trends from the Trenches podcast, listen in on the Trends from the Trenches session at this year’s Bio-IT World Conference & Expo. Ari Berman, PhD, CEO of BioTeam, delivers a candid talk about the technologies driving data-intensive science, from the most worthwhile to the most overhyped to the most relevant. Learn what’s happening now with computing, storage, data transfer, networks, cloud, data science, machine learning, and more. Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode: 27 - Law to Biotech: Joseph La Barge on Starting a Company and the Future of Gene Therapy

In this month’s episode of Trends from the Trenches, host Stan Gloss speaks with Joseph La Barge. La Barge trained as an attorney but has spent most of his career building biotech businesses and securing funding. He shepherded Spark Therapeutics through its acquisition by Roche and has since joined Apertura Gene Therapy as CEO. He and Stan talk about the entrepreneurship journey, gene expression and capsid engineering, and Apertura’s future goals and projects. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe Apertura Gene Therapy Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.

Episode: 26 - Embracing Change and Overcoming Resistance With Adama Ibrahim

Change can be scary, but it can also bring new opportunities and lead to growth and innovation. In this episode of Trends from the Trenches, host Stan Gloss from BioTeam and Adama Ibrahim, VP of Digital Strategy & Change Management at Novo Nordisk, delve into a conversation about humanity’s natural resistance to change, why it is important to overcome that resistance, and how change is the key to making progress. Ibrahim also shares how Novo Nordisk is supporting research organizations through change management, as well as how to incentivize people to embrace change in an ever-evolving world. Links from this episode: Bio-IT World BioTeam Bio-IT World Europe Novo Nordisk Bio-IT World’s Trends from the Trenches podcast delivers your insider’s look at the science, technology, and executive trends driving the life sciences through conversations with industry leaders.