Thursday, September 4th
11:45am - 1:00pm, Zoom
Meeting ID: 963 2560 9671
Passcode: 698339
James Zou, PhD
Associate Professor of Biomedical Data Science and, by courtesy, of Computer Science and of Electrical Engineering
Standford University
Computational Biology in the Age of AI Agents
AI agents—large language models equipped with tools and reasoning capabilities—are emerging as powerful research enablers. This talk will explore how computational biology is particularly well-positioned to benefit from rapid advances in agentic AI. I’ll first introduce the Virtual Lab—a collaborative team of AI scientist agents conducting in silico research meetings to tackle open-ended research projects. As an example application, the Virtual Lab designed new nanobody binders to recent Covid variants that we experimentally validated. Then I will present CellVoyager, a data science agent that analyzes complex genomics data to derive new insights. I will conclude by discussing limits of agents and a roadmap for human researcher-AI collaboration.
Biostatistics Departmental Seminars & Lectures
During the Fall and Spring semesters, the Department of Biostatistics holds regular seminars on Thursdays, called the Levin Lecture Series, on a wide variety of topics which are of interest to both students and faculty. Over each semester, there are also often guest lectures outside the regular Thursday Levin Lecture Series, to provide a robust schedule the covers the wide range of topics in Biostatistics. The speakers are invited guests who spend the day of their seminar discussing their research with Biostatistics faculty and students.
