About Us

Helical is a small team of dedicated and passionate individuals, who are committed to delivering high-quality software and support to organisations involved in animal and plant breeding activities.

Helical was founded in early 2021 to support sibling company Theta Solutions LLC 's operations in New Zealand and Australia, in particular the development and implementation of the new national New Zealand Dairy Evaluation "NZAEL3.0".

We develop next generation software for genetic and genomic evaluations and web based genomic (and animal) data repositories. In all cases, we have a particular focus on performance, ease-of-use, flexibility, transparency, and state-of-the-art web technologies.

Our Team

Dan Garrick, PhD - Founder & CEO Dan joined Theta Solutions in January 2017 after completing his doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University. His research involved development of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods to simulate the atomization of liquid fuel in supersonic rocket engines. Daniel brings expertise in numerical methods including solution strategies for linear and non-linear systems of equations, high performance computing, and processing and visualization of large data sets. In early 2021, Dan took over as CEO and managing partner of Theta Solutions LLC (USA) and founded in NZ The Helical Company, an independent software company focused on developing genomic software tools and supporting Theta Solutions LLC operations.

Dorian Garrick, PhD - Geneticist and Technical Advisor Dorian has been integrally involved in the development and implementation of national animal evaluation programs, performance recording databases and breeding schemes. His recent work has focused on exploiting genomic information for animal improvement. Dorian views animal breeding in a systems context, involving the integration of knowledge and understanding of business goals, production systems, processing and marketing, in concert with quantitative and molecular genetics. Dorian has worked with a variety of genetic improvement programs in addition to dairy cattle, including beef cattle, sheep, elk, pigs, chickens, and tree breeding. Dorian enjoys working with enthusiastic producer and industry groups that seek to include animal breeding approaches in the attainment of their farm business goals. Dorian is Chief Scientist at the A. L. Rae Genetics Center in Waikato, New Zealand and is co-founder of Theta Solutions LLC, developer of BOLT.

Rhiannon Handcock, PhD - Scientist Rhiannon went to Massey University to combine her love of cows and science with a Bachelor of Science in Animal Science and Agriculture. She completed her Honours in 2014 and worked for LIC for one year. She has graduated with a PhD titled 'Live weight and growth of dairy heifers are important for subsequent milk production and reproductive performance'. Since May 2020 she was employed part-time as a Postdoctoral fellow at the Al Rae Centre for Genetics and Breeding and in May 2021 has been employed as a Scientist for the Helical Company.

Joel Howse - Senior Software Engineer Joel started working fulltime as a software engineer at The Helical Company in May 2021 after interning there for several months. Joel comes from a rural background, working on farms and training horses before going on to complete his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Waikato.

Riley Douglas - Software Engineer Riley started as a full-time software engineer at The Helical Company in December 2022 after completing his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from the University of Waikato and several months of working part-time as an intern.