AI and Cell Atlas: Revolutionizing Disease Cures

Resources

Books

• "The Periodic Table of Elements" - Mentioned as an analogy for a missing equivalent in biology, highlighting the need for fundamental organizational tools.

Videos & Documentaries

• No specific videos or documentaries were mentioned.

Research & Studies

• No specific research papers or studies were explicitly named, but the concept of NIH grants funding incremental progress was discussed.

Tools & Software

• Cell by Gene - An annotation tool developed by Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) to help scientists annotate single-cell data, which became a foundational element for the Cell Atlas.
• Variant Former - A model that predicts the outcome of applying CRISPR edits to cells.
• Diffusion Model - A model that can simulate synthetic versions of described cell types.
• Cryo Model - A model focused on spatial aspects of cells, providing a sense of their arrangement and structure.

Articles & Papers

• No specific articles or papers were explicitly named.

People Mentioned

• Alex Reeves - Leader of Evolutionary Scale, who will head the entire science program at the Biohub, signifying a focus on AI and biology integration.

Organizations & Institutions

• Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) - The organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan with the mission to cure, prevent, or manage all disease by the end of the century.
• Biohub - CZI's platform dedicated to accelerating discovery by pairing frontier biology with frontier AI. CZI operates three Biohubs: one in San Francisco (deep imaging and transcriptomics), one in Chicago (building tissues and studying cell communications), and one in New York (cell engineering).
• UCSF, Stanford, and Berkeley - Partner universities for the Biohubs, facilitating collaboration between these institutions.
• Evolutionary Scale - A company with researchers formerly from Meta who worked on protein folding models, with its leader joining the Biohub.
• Meta - Mentioned as the former employer of researchers now at Evolutionary Scale.
• NIH (National Institutes of Health) - The primary source of government funding for scientific research, which CZI aims to supplement with longer-term, tool-building grants.

Courses & Educational Resources

• No specific courses or educational resources were explicitly mentioned.

Websites & Online Resources

• a16z.com/disclosures - A link for more details on a16z's investments and disclosures.
• a16z.substack.com - CZI's Substack for more content.

Other Resources

• Periodic Table of Elements - Used as an analogy for the missing fundamental organizational equivalent for biology.
• Virtual Cells - Computational models that allow scientists to test hypotheses in silico before investing in expensive wet lab work.
• Cell Atlas - A project by CZI to catalog millions of cells in an open-source format, creating a standard for biology data.
• Large Language Models (LLMs) - AI models that are being integrated into biological research to make sense of complex data.
• GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) - Essential hardware for AI research, with CZI building large-scale compute clusters and inviting scientists to apply for access.