Gokay

Gokay

Building Automation Systems for Science

Software engineer and scientist. I build hardware-software automation, control systems, and data pipelines that power modern scientific manufacturing.

About Me

I am a software and automation engineer with a PhD in science. My focus lies at the intersection of physical science, hardware control, and distributed software systems, building the core infrastructure that powers scientific manufacturing and automated laboratory R&D.

My work spans developing real-time instrument control software, designing high-throughput data pipelines, and integrating complex physical hardware into reliable, scalable production workflows.

$1.5M+
Annual Savings from Automated Inspection
Saved via custom vision & AI defect detection systems
45X
CI/CD Efficiency Boost
GitHub Actions quota & pipeline optimization
100+
Instruments Integrated
Raw data streaming to S3 & Snowflake
100 TB
Data processed
Data amount processed through my pipelines

Technical Capabilities

Languages & Frameworks

PythonTypeScript/ReactSQLBash/LinuxVBA

Image Processing

PyTorchYOLOOpenCVComputer VisionObject Detection

Data & Infrastructure

SnowflakeAWSTerraformDockerPostgreSQLGitHub Actions CI/CDSentryTableau

Hardware & Lab Systems

SCADAIgnitionMotion Control SystemsRobotic Liquid Handlers

Experience & Key Achievements

10X Genomics10X Genomics

Senior Automation Engineer

10X GenomicsCurrent Position
2022 — Present
PythonYOLO / AIAWSSnowflakeIgnition
  • Designed and deployed computer vision inspection systems (custom YOLO classification, detection, and segmentation), eliminating manual inspection across multiple product lines and saving over $1.1M/year.
  • Architected an end-to-end data pipeline streaming raw instrument data from >100 devices via Box and EC2 into S3 and Snowflake for automated analytics and visualization.
  • Built hardware communication interfaces for power meters, cameras, wavefront sensors, actuators, and motion control systems.
  • Created an executable building and cross-platform distribution system for Python GUIs, incorporating Sentry error tracking and telemetry.
  • Optimized CI/CD pipelines via GitHub Actions, reducing storage costs and improving quota efficiency by 45X.
Emerald Cloud Lab

Scientific Infrastructure Engineer II

Emerald Cloud Lab
2021 — 2022
Hardware ControlAutomated WorkflowsNIST/GLPPython
  • Addressed troubleshooting events in real time for hardware and software issues of >120 laboratory instruments and equipment including DNA/peptide synthesizers, HPLCs, robotic liquid handlers, mass spectrometers, NMRs and multimode plate readers.
  • Diagnosed systemic errors in the laboratory and implement hardware, software or procedural solutions to address their sources or improve the reproducibility, reliability, and efficiency of experiments, instruments, and codebase.
  • Fielded user reports on any software, hardware or scientific issues, investigate their root causes and implement timely solutions, and communicate with users on their status.
  • Informed users of any problems that arise during their experiments. Advise and educate them on the use of ECL software suite or any scientific questions/issues.
  • Designed and developed a system to track the root causes for all issues that arise in the laboratory, their recurrence frequency and time to implementation of a permanent fix.
Emerald Cloud Lab

Scientific Developer I

Emerald Cloud Lab
2020 — 2021
Hardware ControlAutomated WorkflowsNIST/GLPPython
  • Developed automated workflows for multiple chemical and biological experiments and integrated them into the ECL software suite.
  • Designed software to automatically calculate and optimize experimental parameters based on user input and experiment/instrument limitations.
  • Engineered interfaces to facilitate efficient communication with scientific instrument software and hardware for instrument setup and data retrieval.
  • Created automated tests to verify that scientific instruments perform to NIST and GLP specifications.
  • Generated automated workflows for maintenance of scientific instruments and laboratory, such as part replacements and container parameterization.
Northwestern University

Graduate Research Assistant

Northwestern University
2013 — 2020
High-Throughput ScreeningMachine LearningNanomedicineSNAs
  • Led a team of 4 scientists to develop a high-throughput synthesis and machine learning pipeline for spherical nucleic acid nanoparticles (SNAs), and tested libraries of 3000 SNAs for immune activation to develop design rules for SNA-based cancer vaccines.
  • Led a team of scientists for the development of biocompatible SNA constructs that can travel through the barriers in the eye for the treatment of retinal disorders, and coordinated legal contracts and IACUC approvals for hiring contract research organization for this work.
  • Managed a team of 5 scientists in a large project to develop immunomodulatory SNAs as cancer vaccines for the treatment of melanoma and prostate cancer, and as a flu vaccine.
  • Collaborated with faculty and postdocs to garner $11.7 million for a cancer nanotechnology center from the NIH. Coordinated the research efforts and data collection with 7 other labs for this center and communicated them to the NIH.
  • Mentored 5 PhD students, 1 MD student, 1 master’s student, 3 undergraduates and 1 research technician.

Education & Honors

Northwestern University
Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences
Northwestern University
2020
Awarded Northwestern Outstanding Thesis Award (2020)
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Certificate in Management for Scientists & Engineers
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
2017
University of Houston
B.S. in Chemistry & B.S. in Biochemical/Biophysical Sciences
University of Houston
2011

Honors & Awards

Patents & Publications

Patents

  • US-12702719-B2 — Hairpin-like oligonucleotide-conjugated spherical nucleic acid
    Mirkin, Chad A. et al. (2026-08-11)
  • US-20220010302-A1 — Addressing Nanomedicine Complexity Through Novel High-Throughput Screening and Machine Learning
    Mirkin, Chad A. et al. (2022-01-13)
  • US-20220175956-A1 — Hairpin-like oligonucleotide-conjugated spherical nucleic acid
    Mirkin, Chad A. et al. (2022-06-09)

Selected Publications

  • Hairpin-like siRNA-Based Spherical Nucleic Acids
    Vasher MK, Yamankurt G, Mirkin CA — Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022)
  • The effector mechanism of siRNA spherical nucleic acids
    Yamankurt G, Posedas DM, Stawicki RJ, Carthew RW, Mirkin CA — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020)
  • Exploration of the Nanomedicine-Design Space with High-Throughput Screening and Machine Learning
    Yamankurt G*, Berns EJ*, Xue A, Lee A, Bagheri N, Mrksich M, Mirkin CA — Nature Biomedical Engineering (2019)
  • Rational Vaccinology with Spherical Nucleic Acids
    Wang S*, Qin L*, Yamankurt G, Skakuj K, Huang Z, Chen PC, Dominguez D, Lee A, Zhang B, Mirkin CA — Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2019)