Earlier this summer, startup EvolutionaryScale raised $142 million to build AI models that generate novel proteins. Last year, the University of Toronto received Canada’s biggest ever university research grant to support self-driving labs for materials discovery.
All the while, life science is notoriously expensive and regulated. The systemic challenges of producing novel materials means it can take decades between their discovery and our widespread adoption of them.
So, how do we reconcile these two seemingly opposing forces? If you’re an industry leader, how should you weigh an investment of your company’s resources into the emerging field of autonomous science? As students and potential founders, what opportunities might there be to build a useful product?
Over the last few months I’ve posed such questions to 18 experts at leading labs and startups. Their insights include:
- Novel discovery means little without being able to scale up production. In CapEx-intensive and highly regulated spaces, this is no small feat.
- There is a steep organizational learning curve to adopting AI-driven methods, from getting existing data-sets “ML-ready,” to documenting existing protocols that can be challenging to express in code (e.g. mix solution until “cloudy.”).
- Regulatory compliance pressure is both limiting and advancing the adoption of self-driving labs in life science.
- In the US, there is increasing interest in adopting autonomous science technology as a way of securing our supply chain and maintaining our strategic edge.
I’ve mapped my findings onto this mural, laying out key drivers and barriers to adoption of autonomous science technology, the peer landscape, and potential startup ideas categorized by investment threshold.
My hope is that if you’re new to this space, this map will shorten your ramp-up time. Want to make your own version? Go ahead! This map is licensed under Creative Commons license for you to remix freely.
I am optimistic about our ability to harness autonomous science platforms in a way that’s both safe and that unlocks breakthrough discoveries that help us live healthier lives, on a healthier planet, and gain insights into the mysteries of nature.
This is why I founded YesAnd Labs, to partner with founders and industry leaders and accelerate the pathway from discovery to real-world impact. If you’d like to learn more, or just want to share what cool work you’re doing, drop us a line.
Here’s to accelerating scientific discovery, together. Onward.
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