Sebastian Huerta Garcia
Lab Operations Specialist Novartis
César Sebastián Huerta García is a Lab Operations Specialist within the Global Discovery Chemistry team at Novartis Biomedical Research in Cambridge, MA. With a strong academic foundation in medicinal chemistry, he holds a BSc in Pharmaceutical Biological Chemistry and an MSc in Chemistry, where his research focused on advancing medicinal chemistry applications.
Transitioning from a hands-on role as a medicinal and synthetic chemist into lab operations, Sebastián brings a unique blend of scientific expertise and operational leadership. In his current role, he leads day-to-day laboratory operations, enabling safe and efficient research environments while driving lab space planning, equipment coordination, and workflow optimization, and supporting broader initiatives such as lab relocations and instrument strategy.
Acting as a key liaison between scientific teams and support functions, Sebastián is passionate about driving operational efficiencies that enable cutting-edge research. His work is centered on creating high-performing lab environments that empower scientists to innovate and accelerate discovery.
Seminars
- Reducing experiment delays and schedule slippage by clearly defining ownership, decision rights, and offs across lab ops, facilities, and external vendors, eliminating wait states and miscommunication
- Lowering hidden operational costs by preventing duplicated effort, rework, and escalation cycles caused by unclear responsibility for equipment readiness, maintenance, and issue resolution
- Improving equipment availability and researcher confidence by establishing predictable support models that ensure problems are addressed quickly by the correct function, protecting scientific timelines and data delivery
