Dr. Ewelina Kurtys is a scientist-turned-entrepreneur pushing the frontier of bio-inspired computing. In this conversation, she traces her path from a PhD in neuroscience and 20+ peer-reviewed papers to commercializing deep-tech and advising startups. Curiosity pulled her beyond academia into fast-moving environments where she could turn technical knowledge into real-world impact.Ewelina explains her work with FinalSpark, where teams are prototyping processors made from living neurons—3D “neurospheres/organoids” of ~10,000 neurons placed on electrode arrays. Researchers stimulate these neurons electrically or via chemicals (like dopamine) and read their spiking activity, aiming to program living tissue to process information. It’s early: they’ve demonstrated storing one bit and are building methods and automation (Python-scripted experiments, 24/7) to scale learning.Why do this? Energy efficiency. Neurons are vastly more energy-efficient than today’s AI hardware. While digital systems excel at speed and memory for repetitive tasks, biological systems may better handle complex, generative tasks at a tiny energy cost. The goal isn’t niche accelerators but eventually general biocomputing, culminating in cloud-style bio-servers people can connect to—like today’s GPU clouds.She is frank about the challenges: we still lack a full mathematical framework for how neurons encode information; brains are plastic and messy, so outputs vary over time; and biology brings stability and longevity hurdles. FinalSpark has kept neurons alive on electrodes for months and is pushing toward years, while also engaging philosophers on ethics as public interest grows. Their remote neuroplatform lets universities and companies run experiments over the internet, scaling collaboration and reproducibility; 10+ universities already use it, and first commercial subscribers have arrived.Key takeaways:- Transition: from academic neuroscience to startup commercialization and strategy.- FinalSpark vision: living-neuron processors for AI tasks with orders-of-magnitude lower energy.- State of the art: organoids on electrodes, chemical/electrical programming, automated, scriptable lab.- Hard problems: encoding frameworks, plasticity, stability, neuron longevity, ethics.- Platform: remote, 24/7 wetware lab for global teams; growing academic and commercial interest.- Past papers: PET imaging, microglia & diet, CAR-T tracking—methods that shaped her applied mindset.- Future: bio-servers accessible like cloud GPUs; LLM-driven automation accelerating science.About Ewelina Kurtys:- https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewelinakurtys/- https://finalspark.comAbout Federico Ramallo ✨👨💻🌎🚀 Software Engineering Manager | 🛠 Founder of DensityLabs.io & PreVetted.ai | 🤝 Connecting 🇺🇸 U.S. teams with top nearshore 🌎 LATAM engineers- 💼 https://www.linkedin.com/in/framallo/- 🌐 https://densitylabs.io- ✅ https://prevetted.ai🎙 PreVetted Podcast 🎧📡- 🎯 https://prevetted.ai/podcast- 🐦 https://x.com/PrevettedPod- 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/company/prevetted-podcast00:00 From Neuroscience to Entrepreneurship02:13 Lessons from Academia03:46 Bio-Inspired Computing: The Future of Technology08:45 Challenges in Developing Living Computers13:52 The Complexity of the Brain19:22 Nutrition and Brain Health24:41 The Nature of Scientific Discovery27:53 Challenges in Peer Review and Publication29:22 The Power of Imaging in Neuroscience32:33 Translating Animal Research to Humans34:28 The Debate on Full Body Scans38:26 Advancements in CAR T Cell Therapy41:08 Innovations in Remote Biocomputing46:15 The Future of Science and Biocomputing