Artwork for podcast Creative Innovators with Gigi Johnson
AR and Love of the Lab . . . with Ippolito Caradonna
Episode 3 • 25th March 2022 • Creative Innovators with Gigi Johnson • Maremel Institute
00:00:00 00:35:04

Share Episode

Shownotes

Question:  How can we use Augmented Reality to enhance the practice of collaborative biology? 

Guest: Ippolito Caradonna, Co-Founder/CEO, Aug Lab; Director, HoloPractice

Ippolito Caradonna mixes his love for biology with his background in film and passion for assisted research.  He is co-founding Aug Lab, an AR software interface for laboratory production that helps scientists traverse the complex topography of a lab.  He shares with us how he first fell in love with molecular biology through gene regulation.  His journey has not been a straight line.  After starting in film at Loyola Marymount, he became a social worker for 6 years in Santa Clara County, near where he grew up in Gilroy, CA.  He has had, what we call postcard moments in this show, where he dropped out of film school.  He went back to school, fascinated by "junk DNA," the extra DNA not being used.  He melded theater, music, and other areas of art in parallel with lab studies.  He shares how he bugged his now-parter, Christian Lafayette, to work with him on an augmented reality solution.  He shares his plans for Aug Lab in designing with other lab professionals how do we augment the lab experience vs changing it or distracting from their work.  He ends with his own values of making lab work understandable and accessible for young professionals exploring STEM careers and hopes that Aug Lab will make training easier to explore.

Our Guest


Ippolito Caradonna is a passionate molecular biologist with over 10 years of experience in academic and industry labs. He co-founded Aug Lab, an AR software prototype that spatially projects a projected environment for lab and collaborative work.  He has over two years in the Medical XR (mixed reality) arena as a mentor via the Black Technology Mentorship Program. He is also the director of a HoloPractice - a private incubator of technologists and health & wellness professionals building experiential platforms.


Giving back to his community is one of his most important values and his commitment to authentic personal relationships is the cornerstone of his professional foundation.  He is passionate about shifting the paradigm in the laboratory from the 2D protocol-driven lab operation to a human-centered technology transfer that uses a digitally projected shared interactive environment.


Mentioned Links

  • theAugLab.com
  • HoloPractice.com
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ippolito-caradonna/
  • Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/theauglab


Timecode

  • 00:00 Introduction
  • 01:03 HoloPractice - What is it?
  • 02:03 Molecular Biology
  • 02:47 Aug Lab - What is it?
  • 05:09 Falling in Love with the Lab and Biology
  • 06:12 Leaving Film for Social Work
  • 12:39 Liquid handling robot as a gateway to AR
  • 14:23 Pursuing his co-founder
  • 26:22 Envisioning science careers


Your Host: Gigi Johnson, EdD


I run transformative programs, speak/moderate, invest, advise, and produce multimedia on creativity and technology.  I taught for 22 years at UCLA, where I ran the Center for Music Innovation and the podcast "Innovating Music," built four industry-connecting programs, and taught undergraduates, MBAs, and executives about disruption in creative industries.  Before UCLA, I financed media M&A at Bank of America for ten years.


Connect with Us


Sponsored and Produced by the Maremel Institute

Transcripts

Gigi Johnson:

So I am glad that we met at a charming event.

Gigi Johnson:

Oh my gosh.

Gigi Johnson:

I was so enamored with the Gatherverse.

Gigi Johnson:

And you are a business partner, yes?

Gigi Johnson:

Or a start-up partner . . . With the creator of the Gatherverse?

Ippolito Caradonna:

Absolutely.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Yeah.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So Christopher Lafayette is my co-founder and partner, mentor, friend

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . . , Gigi Johnson: Cool guy,

Ippolito Caradonna:

Oh, I'll try to get Christopher on as well.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And see if you actually have different stories about the same thing,.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Your name -- I will let you say it because I would like it to be said appropriately.

Ippolito Caradonna:

The short version of it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

Ippolito Imani Cardonna.

Gigi Johnson:

And the long version of it is

Gigi Johnson:

. Ippolito Caradonna: ..It's

Gigi Johnson:

Rivas Calero Osaldo de Madrid.

Gigi Johnson:

Excellent.

Gigi Johnson:

So Ippolito is what I will call you for our conversation here.

Gigi Johnson:

And so you presented at the conference in an arena that most people doesn't

Gigi Johnson:

know even is trying to exist.

Gigi Johnson:

Can you maybe start us up and tell us, cause you've got a

Gigi Johnson:

couple dance parties going here.

Gigi Johnson:

You've got the fact that you and Christopher have Holopractice.

Gigi Johnson:

Now what is that?.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So Holopractice is a think tank -- sort of like Maremel

Ippolito Caradonna:

-- that gathers . . . It's an incubator for, for medical, immersive experiences

Ippolito Caradonna:

that can be brought to you by extended reality VR AR and the mix of the two.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so we gather minds that are really focused on that intersectionality

Ippolito Caradonna:

between the emerging technology and healthcare technology.

Gigi Johnson:

Your hat is healthcare technology.

Ippolito Caradonna:

My hat is . . . my particular expertise

Ippolito Caradonna:

is actually molecular biology.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So biomedical research, a little bit upstream from what the doctors are using.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So research like our historic group of COVID-19 vaccines and, and development

Ippolito Caradonna:

that happens in the laboratory.

Gigi Johnson:

So you are a regular, a regular, a molecular biologist,

Gigi Johnson:

not just playing one on TV.

Gigi Johnson:

Yes.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Just a plain, just a plain old ordinary molecular biologist.

Gigi Johnson:

And then you guys also are launching -- or trying

Gigi Johnson:

to get started -- a new product.

Gigi Johnson:

Which is Aug Lab.

Gigi Johnson:

So can you share what Aug Lab is?

Ippolito Caradonna:

Exactly, definitely really excited about Aug Lab.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It's an AR software interface for laboratory production.

Ippolito Caradonna:

That's the the spiel of it, but it really is an AR tool that helps scientists

Ippolito Caradonna:

traverse the complex topography of a lab.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So there's a lot of moving parts that are happening when you're

Ippolito Caradonna:

planning an experiment . . . when you're doing a laboratory process.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Aug Lab is like an assistant that helps you with holographic images of things

Ippolito Caradonna:

that will sort, that you need to know in the lab, like how instruments are

Ippolito Caradonna:

working, how your experiment is running and all the different tools that you

Ippolito Caradonna:

could use . . . i f you had an actual assistant physical assistant right by you.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So it's your virtual lab, assistant.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Or your lab-whisperer that is

Gigi Johnson:

telling you with visual heads up display stuff you don't do that.

Gigi Johnson:

You forgot about this.

Gigi Johnson:

That's running that.

Gigi Johnson:

Here's the right measurements we should have had there.

Gigi Johnson:

I actually need one of those all the time.

Gigi Johnson:

I'm a.

Gigi Johnson:

. . I'm a recovering Glass Hole.

Gigi Johnson:

I mean, I was a Google Glass person when they came out and I so

Gigi Johnson:

appreciated the little visual nags that would come up and the audio nags.

Gigi Johnson:

And I guess this is my other, this, and this are my nags otherwise.

Gigi Johnson:

So this is more of a visual and audio experience.

Gigi Johnson:

That you guys are designing, building, prototyping, partnering on?.

Gigi Johnson:

Exactly.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Yeah.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So it would be . . . it's.

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . So we . . . We leverage see-through technology.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So using a head-mounted display, that is hands-free so less touch points, less

Ippolito Caradonna:

possibilities of contamination in the lab.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Being able to talk by directionally to the program, the program is

Ippolito Caradonna:

talking to you, like you said giving you those signals and those cues,

Ippolito Caradonna:

and it also is, is AI governed.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So it's learning.

Ippolito Caradonna:

As you're, as you're using it, it's making it, it's making itself smarter with each

Ippolito Caradonna:

use by picking up and being reinforced by the activities that you're doing.

Gigi Johnson:

I have probably 25 different questions already about what

Gigi Johnson:

it is, what you're using, et cetera.

Gigi Johnson:

But I'm going to swing back to this.

Gigi Johnson:

I want you to tell me how in the world you got into molecular biology.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Oh, I love this.

Ippolito Caradonna:

This is a beautiful, there's a love story.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I saw, I fell in love with gene regulation, molecular biology in

Ippolito Caradonna:

the redwoods deep in the redwoods of UC Santa Cruz where the, you

Ippolito Caradonna:

know banana slugs go slugs.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And

Ippolito Caradonna:

. Gigi Johnson: And ..This is where

Ippolito Caradonna:

This is where I was an undergraduate.

Ippolito Caradonna:

My story goes back a little bit further and, and I'll

Ippolito Caradonna:

just give you the short of it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And then if we want to dive deeper, we could.

Ippolito Caradonna:

But I actually went . . . I started out going to school for film

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . . Gigi Johnson: Yeah,

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

Exactly . . . At Loyola Marymount.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

So I was thinking we we definitely sync up, especially with the . . . We were

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

talking about postcard moments, right?

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

In your little tidbit and your snippet.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

I've had a lot of postcard moments, Gigi.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

I've had a lot of nodes and pivots in my life where I listened to the

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

call and I took that turn as a, as a musician, as a filmmaker, as an artist.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

I dropped out of film school, started in social services became a social worker

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

for six years in Santa Clara County.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

Where I, where I grew up in Gilroy, California, a little further south

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

where the garlic capital of the world.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

Right.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

And so after that, you know, I thought to myself, I want to go back to school.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

All this vocational stuff was being pushed towards me and like

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

be a physician's assistant, you know, all these trade schools.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

And I thought to myself, why not just go back to school?

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

And see what, what peaks my interest and so biology, it was I heard about,

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

you know what we call junk DNA.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

So the DNA in our, in our, in our bodies and ourselves that are

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

not being used and how they're regulated, how genes are regulated.

Gigi Johnson:

I'm going to stop you there.

Gigi Johnson:

What's Junk DNA?

Gigi Johnson:

' Ippolito Caradonna: So junk DNA is it's

Gigi Johnson:

in ourselves that are not being used.

Gigi Johnson:

So some people talk about like, we're only using 10% of our brain

Gigi Johnson:

or which I think if you talk to some neurologists, that's not true, but in

Gigi Johnson:

fact, a lot of the DNA in ourselves, I'ts not necessarily transcribed

Gigi Johnson:

or used to act, to make proteins.

Gigi Johnson:

It's actually more structural.

Gigi Johnson:

So we have eons and eons of this DNA that hasn't been used.

Gigi Johnson:

And what piqued my interest was that if you were able to somehow

Gigi Johnson:

up-regulate or express that DNA really cool things happened.

Gigi Johnson:

So that was my.

Gigi Johnson:

. . .That was my

Gigi Johnson:

. . . Gigi Johnson: That pulls you into the

Gigi Johnson:

into molecular biology at UC Santa Cruz.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

That was it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

It was the light bulb moment and I, and I loved it and I couldn't

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

get out of the lab ever since, you know, I've been doing research more

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

than 10 years now, since that point.

Gigi Johnson:

So when you explain what the labs like, I must admit I

Gigi Johnson:

was a pre-bioresearch on psychobiology first round through for undergrad

Gigi Johnson:

before film school found me.

Gigi Johnson:

And I started doing lab work and I was going, oh, I, this is not my

Gigi Johnson:

space sitting in a lab is not my zone.

Gigi Johnson:

So what is lab life like?

Gigi Johnson:

Because in many ways you're augmenting lab life.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Exactly.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Yeah.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And I've, I've had plenty of experience that has . . . That has really

Ippolito Caradonna:

inspired me to create Aug Lab.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So lab, life, I would say it's paying attention.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It's really you know, having to have a really, really fine attention to detail.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Those that's, I think one of the major, main characteristics and qualities of a

Ippolito Caradonna:

good scientist is to pay attention and actually document your observations.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And it's, there's a lot of apprenticeship.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Mentorship and shadowing when you don't know a technique.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So, you know, being able to learn something and do an experiment or

Ippolito Caradonna:

do a technique . . . Is different than being a master at it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And I learned early on, the more you fail you have to learn the hard way.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So the more you fail at something, the more of a master you become at it because

Ippolito Caradonna:

you have to go back, you have to, you know, assess all of the, the factors

Ippolito Caradonna:

that were involved in the experiment.

Ippolito Caradonna:

What did you do wrong?

Ippolito Caradonna:

What was the actual biological question?

Ippolito Caradonna:

So it's, it's exciting to me and, and, and I think.

Ippolito Caradonna:

One of my first mentors really hooked me when he said, you

Ippolito Caradonna:

know, he knew I was an artist.

Ippolito Caradonna:

He knew I was creative.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And he said, you actually can't do lab research without being open and creative.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So you have to put that bread.

Ippolito Caradonna:

You have to use two sides of your brain Imani.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And I was like, okay, you know what, sign me up.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I'm ready.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so, you know, it, it does take a little bit of pushing through that the

Ippolito Caradonna:

formality, the procedures, all of the all of the guidelines, but then when you get

Ippolito Caradonna:

the technique, that's when you can start waving your wand and being creative.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And asking those really interesting questions.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So I'm going to come back to the film school.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Is that enough?

Ippolito Caradonna:

That's my soap.

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . .That's

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . . Gigi Johnson: Great soapbox.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So were you doing steroetypically creative work at the time.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So were you doing film ish things during this time period?

Ippolito Caradonna:

So during my time in the lab?

Gigi Johnson:

Yeah.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So I actually, that's, that's a great question.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Not so much film, but I had gone to a performing arts school for high

Ippolito Caradonna:

school and theater was in my blood.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so at UC Santa Cruz, I was roped in again, inspired and hooked to join.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It's called Rainbow Theater, and Rainbow Theater was a group of . . . a group of

Ippolito Caradonna:

kids . . . that put on, I think, five or six different productions a year.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It was, it was an African-American production, an Asian-American

Ippolito Caradonna:

production, a Latino production.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And, and then there was something called the poet's corner, where it

Ippolito Caradonna:

was a mix of all bunch of different artists, poets, spoken word

Ippolito Caradonna:

artists, dancers, rappers, singers.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so that was sort of my me clinging -- or not clinging -- but maintaining my

Ippolito Caradonna:

artist, my artistry, I had to, I had to stay, I had to stay in the realm.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So as to not lose my chops.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And Rainbow Theater was a good place for that.

Gigi Johnson:

So how did immersive AR VR "stuff" walk into your life?

Ippolito Caradonna:

So that . . . it was, it was high tech, deep tech,

Ippolito Caradonna:

r eally always fascinated me.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And when I went from UC Santa Cruz to work at UC San Francisco, I was

Ippolito Caradonna:

introduced to the Center for Advanced Technology -- the CAT, as we called it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so that was where all of the gadgets and gizmos where, you

Ippolito Caradonna:

know, that's where they lived.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And I got to get my hands on a liquid handling, automated liquid handler.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And that's . . . So it's a robot that is able to do the the liquid

Ippolito Caradonna:

transfers and, and perform the experiments that, a human would do.

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . . Gigi Johnson: Your jittery hand wasn't

Ippolito Caradonna:

Right?

Ippolito Caradonna:

Exactly.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So it's like, you know, so many benefits, lack of carpal tunnel,

Ippolito Caradonna:

you know it took a lot of the stress and the, the, the load off of.

Ippolito Caradonna:

You know, a lab user.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So I thought, you know, I was just like, this is amazing.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so I dove deep into the robotics of it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And that actually led me to my, my career in Silicon valley in the industry.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So I went from academia to industry with that passion to, to

Ippolito Caradonna:

explore automated liquid handling.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And that's what I'm doing now as a passion.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so having that Deep deep love for technology.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Thinking about the future of work.

Ippolito Caradonna:

That's what brought me to XR and I knew about it because of gaming really.

Ippolito Caradonna:

That's that's all I really knew about it was, was to do the PlayStation, but

Ippolito Caradonna:

when I had the inspiration for Aug Lab, I looked at my contacts on LinkedIn.

Ippolito Caradonna:

This is, and I do want, I, this is, this is the story I do want

Ippolito Caradonna:

Chris to . . . to tell,, cause I think it's a different story.

Ippolito Caradonna:

You know, I bugged this guy, I bugged him.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I was trying to

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . . Gigi Johnson: How did

Ippolito Caradonna:

I don't, you know, that is the strangest, I, we

Ippolito Caradonna:

had mutual connections on LinkedIn.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So we, we.

Ippolito Caradonna:

We were already connections.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So what I was doing was I was looking through, I was like,

Ippolito Caradonna:

who's like doing this stuff.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Like who's, who's actually building these products who

Ippolito Caradonna:

who's talking about AR and VR.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so Chris was there and my contacts and, and I just pinged them.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And this is where it might differ, but I must've, I think over the

Ippolito Caradonna:

span of a half a year, Pinging him pinging him and this man, as you

Ippolito Caradonna:

know, is so busy, busy, you know?

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so I was persistent.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I was like, you know, I really have this great idea.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I want to share it with you and let me know if you're available.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so finally, near the end of 2019, he answered.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And it was, it was you know, like they say, the rest is history.

Gigi Johnson:

So he geographically is where?

Gigi Johnson:

. . . Ippolito Caradonna: Mountain View.

Gigi Johnson:

So you guys are, thank goodness, heading into the pandemic,

Gigi Johnson:

somewhat adjacent geographically?

Gigi Johnson:

Though, I'm assuming that even if he was halfway around the world with

Gigi Johnson:

everyone working remotely . . . But so how was it to essentially sort

Gigi Johnson:

of come into the pandemic, working through an innovation partnership?

Ippolito Caradonna:

It was great.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It was that, well, the partnership itself was . . . like many,

Ippolito Caradonna:

you know . . . Really leaned on telecommunication, you know, the, the

Ippolito Caradonna:

zoom calls and the phone calls, or being able to sort of share that moment.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so what was great about our product was that it was an answer to the pandemic.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so it was.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It was amazing for us to be able to build and to do the research and to

Ippolito Caradonna:

do all the processing of the technical stuff through, through the web.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so we didn't really need to, to be, face-to-face and that was something

Ippolito Caradonna:

that the product was offering as well.

Ippolito Caradonna:

You know, where you can collaborate with scientists from all over the world.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And the safety of your own lab.

Gigi Johnson:

So I'm gonna maybe nerd a little bit on product.

Gigi Johnson:

So what are you using as a heads up display for the development work?

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

That's a great question.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

And I think we've recently landed on the Hololens because of the developer tools..

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

And the, all the work that's been put into the see-through display there.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

But to be honest, I think that for the prototype and for the development,

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

it's important to pick one as opposed to, you know, trying to try to do

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

too much or bite off too much that we could chew, but we're very open and,

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

and we look forward to partners that have a strong opinion about it, right.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

Obviously Chris has more knowhow about this stuff, but for me, it's, you know,

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

can we capture the experience and can we capture the experience conveniently

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

so that a big headset isn't, you know, weighing you down in the lab and so that

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

you can actually be comfortable in the lab, you know, as much as you can be.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

So that that's, that's what I, that's what I'm looking for for the future.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

When, when we do actually land.

Ippolito Caradonna:

:

The HMD that we, that we're going with.

Gigi Johnson:

It's very interesting to think about, and that comes back, bringing

Gigi Johnson:

your film and creative background, how to storyboard a work experience, right?

Gigi Johnson:

So you're needing to figure out how to make something

Gigi Johnson:

additive and not distracting.

Gigi Johnson:

And that actually reminds me that I need to have somebody else on this

Gigi Johnson:

show that I know that is a media psychologist looking at this for

Gigi Johnson:

a heads-up display in automotive.

Gigi Johnson:

Similar questions.

Gigi Johnson:

Right?

Gigi Johnson:

In the, how do I have something that is going to be additive, engaging not

Gigi Johnson:

irritating as heck and is going to be able to be a collaborative environment.

Gigi Johnson:

How are you guys . . . how are you storyboarding this?

Ippolito Caradonna:

So we're going into the labs and we're asking mainly,

Ippolito Caradonna:

you know, because I think it's easy because we're making a product for me.

Ippolito Caradonna:

My people . . . , you know, my, my background as a scientist gives us at

Ippolito Caradonna:

least one you know, use case scenario, but reaching out to all of our, you

Ippolito Caradonna:

know, the extensive network, trying to really sit down with the questions and

Ippolito Caradonna:

the, the pinch points and the points of tension that come up in a lab.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Right.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And tackling those.

Ippolito Caradonna:

First.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So I think a really, a really good example is when you, when you say

Ippolito Caradonna:

additive, it's not really even additive.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It's, it's like, I think the, what I was trying, I'm trying to look for

Ippolito Caradonna:

the word and I'm still even bouncing it around people, but it's, it's

Ippolito Caradonna:

sort of a focus and it's not, not so much the holographic displays.

Ippolito Caradonna:

You know, bouncing at you, but it's how the real time image, your perspective and

Ippolito Caradonna:

your view can actually be isolated and focused on what it needs to be focused on.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So in a way, sort of subtracting out the distractions that are in real

Ippolito Caradonna:

time so that you can focus on what you need to what you need to focus on.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Right?

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so, for example, When you go into a lab, you have a whole bunch of different,

Ippolito Caradonna:

you know, whole bunch of instruments.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Aug Lab has what we call a discovery mode, where the, the image of what

Ippolito Caradonna:

you're seeing kind of goes bluish.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Where, where, where that, where then particular aspects of the

Ippolito Caradonna:

lab, like, let's say instrument or reagents or different, different.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Factors different different components of the lab are highlighted.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Right.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so it's sort of like, I guess the best way to describe it as like

Ippolito Caradonna:

detective mode in a, in a video game we want, we want, we want the user to

Ippolito Caradonna:

be able to focus on what they need to focus on when they want to focus on it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So let's say, you know, Hey, is this instrument in use?

Ippolito Caradonna:

Can you tell me the, the runtime, when will it be available?

Ippolito Caradonna:

When was the last.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Maintenance call on it, give me all the layers of information that

Ippolito Caradonna:

you can, as opposed to all the information bouncing at you at once.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So yeah, focusing as opposed to, you know, trying to really hone in and

Ippolito Caradonna:

help that attention to detail that's really, really needed in the lab.

Gigi Johnson:

Very cool.

Gigi Johnson:

Are you guys working on anything else you can share from Holopractice?

Gigi Johnson:

How are you, how are you engaging with others with this?

Gigi Johnson:

How are you sort of percolating new opportunities other than maybe

Gigi Johnson:

not bugging people on LinkedIn?

Gigi Johnson:

I mean, how are, how are you then using that as a hub that

Gigi Johnson:

they think to engage with people?

Ippolito Caradonna:

Absolutely.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Yeah.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So what we were, what I had mentioned in the talk to at Gatherverse I'm

Ippolito Caradonna:

really excited to really announce it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And get geared up for 2022 goals for Holopractice.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And the three top, my top three goals for Holopractice is to first to

Ippolito Caradonna:

organize an event around table where we can bring the medical community key

Ippolito Caradonna:

players in the medical community and key players in the emerging technology

Ippolito Caradonna:

field and just have a conversation.

Ippolito Caradonna:

What can we help you with?

Ippolito Caradonna:

You know, and.

Ippolito Caradonna:

The question always comes up.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Why would we not equip our frontline worker, our frontline medical workers

Ippolito Caradonna:

with the best technology ever?

Ippolito Caradonna:

What is that technology?

Ippolito Caradonna:

What do you need, medical community?

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so I think it's going to be really exciting to, to, to build that event.

Ippolito Caradonna:

We're going to have that on the Gatherverse platform.

Ippolito Caradonna:

We're really excited to bring those key players and have

Ippolito Caradonna:

that round table discussion.

Ippolito Caradonna:

That's one.

Gigi Johnson:

The Gatherverse is sitting on the AWE platform.

Gigi Johnson:

Right?

Gigi Johnson:

Which is sitting on Hubilo or something like that?

Gigi Johnson:

I'm always, . . . I've done way too many virtual events this past two years.

Gigi Johnson:

So I definitely tend to tap people on the shoulder.

Gigi Johnson:

Go.

Gigi Johnson:

What tech is that?

Gigi Johnson:

What are you on?

Gigi Johnson:

How does that work?

Ippolito Caradonna:

I know, and it's, so it's just so convenient.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And we're so grateful for the support from Ori Inbar at AWE that's

Gigi Johnson:

Augmented World Expo

Gigi Johnson:

. . . Which is a fairly long time living.

Gigi Johnson:

I haven't been to AWE in about five years, but I used to go.

Gigi Johnson:

And and it just got almost too crowded.

Gigi Johnson:

It's so popular and they're doing such a great engaging hybrid engagement right now

Gigi Johnson:

during all of this right when, of course the metaverse is getting hyper popularized

Gigi Johnson:

where people suddenly think it's just been invented or something like that.

Gigi Johnson:

Which I find amusing.

Gigi Johnson:

So it's gonna be on the Gatherverse space, which really is a very wonderful

Gigi Johnson:

virtual events and community platform.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Right.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Yeah.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so I think a lot of the people that were at Gatherverse

Ippolito Caradonna:

already were inspired by the talk.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And they, you know, they approached me.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so we're already building that network and that community of people that

Ippolito Caradonna:

want to talk about how can, you know, how can this intersectionality be as

Ippolito Caradonna:

fruitful as possible with the medicine.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And even the, like, I like for me, the biomedical research and emerging

Ippolito Caradonna:

technology XR, extended reality.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It's exciting.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So that's the first, that's the first goal for Holopractice, but we

Ippolito Caradonna:

also want to continue our research with our three pillars of, we

Ippolito Caradonna:

call it three pillars of progress.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It's perceptional alignment, time immersion, and human-centered

Ippolito Caradonna:

technology transfer.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Now I have a talk on the 26th, which is like a two-hour talk that I'm going to go

Ippolito Caradonna:

into in-depth about all of these things.

Ippolito Caradonna:

But I, my goal is to put together a white paper on this so that we can

Ippolito Caradonna:

actually like spell it out for people that are curious about how we're building.

Ippolito Caradonna:

The platform and really the topics that we're talking about, how can

Ippolito Caradonna:

we help the user be more enhanced?

Ippolito Caradonna:

How can we augment that experience as opposed to changing it

Ippolito Caradonna:

or distracting in any way?

Ippolito Caradonna:

So those are really, that's, that's really important.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And I would love to.

Ippolito Caradonna:

. . So we're collaborating to put that paper out there just to publish that

Ippolito Caradonna:

so people can sink their teeth into what we're doing at HoloPractice.

Gigi Johnson:

What have we not talked about that you're excited about?

Gigi Johnson:

You'd want to share with our audience?

Ippolito Caradonna:

Well, I think it was I think I was mentioning a little

Ippolito Caradonna:

bit before the show, you know, the.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I think the social impact that Aug Lab has.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I'd love to talk a little bit more about that because when it comes to education I

Ippolito Caradonna:

know for, in terms of my experience coming from social work into the science space,

Ippolito Caradonna:

I sort of kept that hat on and trying to promote higher education in STEM.

Ippolito Caradonna:

It's difficult to see.

Ippolito Caradonna:

To see oneself in that type of career path.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And I think a lot of it has to do with sort of that intimidation.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So people feel intimidated, the complexities of science, you're

Ippolito Caradonna:

like, what is molecular biology?

Ippolito Caradonna:

And it sort of becomes alien to people.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And I, and I'm just, what I'm really excited about is sort of flattening that

Ippolito Caradonna:

learning curve so that it's not obtuse so that people have that ability to go

Ippolito Caradonna:

into a lab and feel confident when they do and not feel like they're, let's

Ippolito Caradonna:

say maybe . . . like . . . a nuisance . . . Or like you know, taking another person's

Ippolito Caradonna:

time that has to train them longer.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So we want, we want to accelerate training and cut that time, you

Ippolito Caradonna:

know, threefold so that it's a little bit smoother and it can, and it can

Ippolito Caradonna:

promote you know, young people in STEM.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so that's, that's one thing that.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Beyond all of the, you know, the hacking the nerding out.

Ippolito Caradonna:

I really see the social impact of the product when it gets adopted.

Ippolito Caradonna:

And so I'm excited about that.

Gigi Johnson:

Excellent.

Gigi Johnson:

So what do you need, what would you like to show up at your door?

Gigi Johnson:

How would you like people to reach out to you?

Ippolito Caradonna:

So yeah, we have our LinkedIn and and our websites.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So those are, those are all great avenues.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Holopractice is is, is sort of the gateway because even if you have a product

Ippolito Caradonna:

of your own, it's just a great community to come and share and build and ideate

Ippolito Caradonna:

on these things that you know, that, like I said, the cross section between

Ippolito Caradonna:

medicine and XR and so Holopractice.com and we have theAugLab.com.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Our LinkedIn both mine and Christopher Lafayette's is, is there, those

Ippolito Caradonna:

are all great ways to reach out.

Ippolito Caradonna:

We want people to be excited.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Thank you.

Ippolito Caradonna:

Yeah, we just want, we just want people excited about what's going on.

Ippolito Caradonna:

We're at a, we're at a turning point with our technologies and

Ippolito Caradonna:

as like, like, you know, I really tried to make sure it's stressed.

Ippolito Caradonna:

As our, as our science grows, we really need to grow with it.

Ippolito Caradonna:

When we asked the question, why are we doing this?

Ippolito Caradonna:

You know, our, our hearts need to be open as open as our minds and really

Ippolito Caradonna:

asking the questions that matter and how we can make a difference with all of

Ippolito Caradonna:

our knowledge and all of the resources.

Ippolito Caradonna:

So let's bring them all together to do the best that we can.

Gigi Johnson:

Thank you very much for joining us and I'm inspired and looking

Chapters