The interaction of computers, artificial intelligence, and biology is growing every day, with news of computer-brain interfaces, computer-aided drug design, and Google's AlphaFold for protein structure prediction.

Erika Alden DeBenedictis discussed three innovations that are changing the world of biology: machine learning models that can predict properties of biological systems, robotic systems for conducting reproducible experiments, and new types of institutions that alter the incentives of scientists themselves. Kevin Gardner describes his work on solving atomic-level pictures and mechanisms of proteins used by cells to sense and respond to changes in the environment around them. This work not only leads to better understanding of biology, but also establishes new biotech tools and therapies.

Our speakers include:

Erika Alden DeBenedictis (she/her): The new era of computer-aided science
Erika is a former astronomer, recovering computer scientist, and current synthetic biologist. During her PhD at MIT Biological Engineering, she studied the origins of life, and developed robotic systems for engineering bacteria. Erika recently launched the 2022 Bioautomation Challenge, a grant program that gives researchers access to cloud laboratories in order to improve reproducibility, scalability, and shareability of life science research with programmable experiments. Find her at: twitter.com/erika_alden_d


Kevin Gardner (he/him): Nature's switches = Inspiration for new biotech tools and disease-fighting drugs
Director of Structural Biology, CUNY Advanced Science Research Center, and Einstein Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry, City College of New York.
B.S. Biochemistry, UC Davis; Ph.D. Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale (w/Joe Coleman); postdoc Univ Toronto (w/Lewis Kay). Started independent group at UT Southwestern Med Center in Dallas, moved to CUNY in 2013. Started two companies (Peloton Therapeutics, Optologix) to help commercialize aspects of what will be discussed tonight. Find him at: twitter.com/nmrkaygee