Discovery Engines – with Nabil

By Nabil Laoudji, YesAnd Labs LLC

Featuring the people and platforms accelerating scientific discovery. Hosted by Nabil Laoudji. More at www.discoveryengines.co... more

· Science

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How many episodes does Discovery Engines – with Nabil have?

The podcast currently has 13 episodes available.

Discovery Engines – with Nabil episodes:

November 12, 2025Building Safe AI - MIT AI Alignment's Riya Tyagi and Gatlen Culp
Riya and Gatlen are board members of MIT AI Alignment, an organization focused on reducing risks from advanced artificial intelligence. Join us as we map the AI safety landscape, define key risks, examine generational perspectives, and explore how we can work together to build a safer future for humanity.
Hosted by Nabil Laoudji. See below for episode links, chapters, and our socials. 🙏🙌
Episode Links:

MIT AI Alignment

Cambridge Boston Alignment Initiative (CBAI)

Riya's LinkedIn

Gatlen's LinkedIn

Gatlen's Projects

Slaughterbots x Future of Life Institute

Track II Diplomacy

Tegmark AI Safety Group

"Nexus" by Yuval Noah Harari

RAND Institute

BlueDot Impact

"If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies" by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares

Chapters:

(00:00) - Preview & Intro

(01:48) - What Is MAIA?

(02:47) - Why AI Safety?

(09:26) - Trends in AI Safety Interest

(12:46) - AI Safety Techniques: MechInterp & Beyond

(17:15) - Model Situational Awareness

(20:58) - Hybrid, Mixture of Experts Models

(24:40) - Decomposing a Model & Parallels with Human Brains

(29:00) - Private Capital for Safety Research

(32:23) - Frontier Lab Mentorship Programs

(34:14) - Policy Perspectives & China Competition

(36:53) - Ways In Which AI Might Threaten Us

(39:31) - Track 2 Diplomacy & International Collaboration Examples

(43:13) - Slaughterbots & Dangerous Capability Demos

(46:54) - AI-Driven Unemployment

(52:06) - Generational Attitudes Towards AI

(57:44) - How to Get Involved - Non Technical

(01:01:00) - Learning Resources: BlueDot Impact, etc

(01:01:46) - Importance of Communicators & Artists

(01:03:50) - How to Support MAIA
Connect With Us:

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LinkedIn

Bluesky

Feedback or questions
Platforms:

YouTube

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...more
1h 7min
August 06, 2025AI for Physics Discovery - Jesse Thaler of NSF's IAIFI, MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics
Jesse Thaler is Director of the National Science Foundation's AI for Physics "Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions" (IAIFI), and Professor of Physics at MIT's Center for Theoretical Physics. In this episode we explore how AI is reshaping physics, how physics is reshaping AI, and mind-bending implications of theoretical physics. Join us!"
See below for episode links, chapters, and our socials. Hosted by Nabil Laoudji.
Support the podcast! Subscribe to our newsletter: www.discoveryengines.co. Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:

Jesse's Website

National Science Foundation's IAIFI

MIT Department of Physics

Jesse's MIT Page

Quantum Field Theory

CERN Large Hadron Collider

Chapters:

(00:00) - Preview & Introduction

(04:00) - Jesse's Journey Into Physics

(05:49) - Curiosity For Understanding The Nature Of Reality

(07:27) - What Is A Theoretical Particle Physicist?

(09:34) - Quantum Field Theory

(11:05) - Particle-Wave Duality

(12:53) - What is the Large Hadron Collider?

(15:04) - Data Generated From Particle Collisions

(17:52) - How LHC Experiments Are Scheduled

(19:24) - The Future of the LHC and Particle Colliders

(26:29) - National Science Foundation's Institute for AI and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI)

(30:52) - How AI Is Accelerating Physics Discovery

(40:42) - How Physics is Accelerating AI Discovery (Diffusion models and beyond)

(48:27) - Physics Popcorn! – Einstein on Time

(49:32) - Donald Hoffman's Interface Theory of Perception

(50:48) - Many-Worlds Theory of Quantum Mechanics

(53:12) - DeepMind's Demis Hassabis on Superintelligence for Science

(54:03) - Human-Style Intelligence Alone Is Not Enough

(55:17) - Advocate For Curiosity-Driven Research, Hire IAIFI Talent, Engage With AI
Connect With Us:

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LinkedIn

Feedback or questions
Platforms:

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Featured Images:

"Standard Model of Elementary Particles", Cush, Public Domain

"First proton-lead ion collisions at the LHC", Pcharito, CC BY-SA 3.0

Book cover: "The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes", by Donald Hoffman

X Screenshot, Demis Hassabis, @demishassabis
...more
59min
June 19, 2025Universal Lab Automation - Rick Wierenga of PyLabRobot
Rick Wierenga is creator of PyLabRobot, an open-source, hardware-agnostic Python SDK that's lowering the barriers to lab automation for scientists, startups and hackers.
See below for episode links, chapters, and our socials. Hosted by Nabil Laoudji.
Support the podcast! Subscribe to our newsletter: www.discoveryengines.co. Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:

Rick's Twitter

Rick's LinkedIn

PyLabRobot GitHub

PyLabRobot Forum

PyLabRobot Twitter

Dana Gretton, PyHamilton

PyTorch

Flow Cytometry

Chapters:

(00:00) - Preview & Introduction

(03:33) - Rick's Serendipitous Foray Into Lab Automation

(07:00) - Why AWS for Biology

(09:17) - Understanding Liquid Handling Robots

(10:49) - Generic Robotics Stack

(13:20) - Robot Automation With PyLabRobot

(15:07) - The Community Building PyLabRobot

(16:54) - Why A Big Pharma Would Support PyLabRobot

(18:36) - PyTorch: An Open Source Inspiration

(20:32) - Sharing Technology In A Competitive Industry

(23:11) - Supported Device Ecosystem

(25:49) - Surprises in Device Integration

(27:54) - Reverse Engineering 101

(31:26) - How Useful Are Github CoPilot, Codex, LLMS for Reverse Engineering

(34:34) - How Device Manufacturers, Automation Experts, Are Reacting to PyLabRobot

(39:17) - Open Source Efforts and Device Safety

(41:11) - How PyLabRobot Enables Sharing Protocols, Reproducibility

(45:03) - Creating a 3D Scanner From a Liquid Handler

(48:49) - Supporting Self-Driving Labs

(54:49) - How PyLabRobot Will Evolve

(55:40) - Automating Flow Cytometry

(58:17) - How To Contribute and Connect
Connect With Us:

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Bluesky

LinkedIn

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Platforms:

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1h 2min
May 07, 2025Breaking Into AI for Science - Alishba Imran of UC Berkeley BAIR, Arc Institute, CZ Biohub, Voltx
Alishba Imran is a deep learning researcher at UC Berkeley's BAIR AI Lab, a Research Fellow at the Arc Institute, a former Research Intern at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, co-founder of battery tech startup Voltx, and co-author of "AI for Robotics: Toward Embodied and General Intelligence in the Physical World"
See below for episode links, chapters, and our socials. Hosted by Nabil Laoudji.
Support the podcast! Subscribe to our newsletter: www.discoveryengines.co. Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:

Alishba's LinkedIn

Alishba's Twitter

"AI for Robotics" book

Arc Institute

UC Berkeley BAIR AI Lab

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub

DynaCLR Paper

Biopunk Lab

Chapters:

(00:00) - Preview & Introduction

(05:02) - Why AI for Science?

(10:34) - Bootstrapping Your Own Learning

(16:02) - Why Battery Testing Matters: Launching Voltx

(20:19) - Batteries, Raw Earth Minerals: Incremental vs Transformative Chemistries

(23:54) - The Business Side of Deep Tech Entrepreneurship

(29:14) - The State of Battery Tech Today

(30:50) - Working with Chan Zuckerberg Biohub

(33:37) - DynaCLR For Contrastive Learning of Cell State Dynamics

(36:21) - Why Self-Supervised + Contrastive Learning

(41:06) - Generalizing to Different Cells Contexts With Embeddings

(42:06) - Microscopy or ML Advancements for Unlocking Progress

(43:54) - Managing Terabytes of Data

(46:51) - Arc Institute: Collecting Largest Single Cell Dataset

(48:40) - Role of Tech-Founder Funded Institute To Advance Foundational Work

(50:41) - Book Launch! Merging Classical Robotics Methods With Cutting-Edge Deep Learning

(53:42) - Robotics Progress: Hype vs Reality

(57:09) - Robotics for Science

(58:54) - Future Trends: Automation, Foundational Single Cell Models, Protein and Genome Language Models, Transcriptomics

(01:00:41) - Pivoting into AI for Science Early, Mid, or Late Career

(01:02:49) - Exchanging Ideas; DynaCLR Paper; AI for Robotics Book
Connect With Us:

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Bluesky

LinkedIn

Feedback or questions
Platforms:

YouTube

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...more
1h 6min
April 23, 2025Unleashing Scientific Data - Nicholas Larus-Stone of Sphinx Bio, Bits in Bio
Nicholas Larus-Stone is the Founder & CEO of Sphinx Bio, a startup helping life science labs unlock the full potential of their data to accelerate discovery. He’s also the Founder of Bits in Bio, a global community advancing science through software.
See below for episode links, chapters, and our socials. Hosted by Nabil Laoudji.
Support the podcast! Subscribe to our newsletter: www.discoveryengines.co. Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:

Nicholas' LinkedIn

Sphinx Bio

Bits in Bio

Folding Playground

Google Co-Scientist Paper

Recursion

Defining TechBio

Chapters:

(00:00) - Preview & Introduction

(04:34) - Why Biotech & Life Science

(07:33) - About Small Molecule Discovery Companies Octant & Benevolent AI

(11:47) - Why Is Software Second in Biotech?

(14:35) - What Engineers Bring to Biotech

(16:00) - Is Science Data-Starved or Data Rich?

(19:23) - How Scientists Work With Data

(28:10) - Observations That Led to Founding Sphinx Bio

(31:48) - AI Co-Scientists

(37:57) - How Platforms like Sphinx Are Powered

(40:31) - Foundation Model Companies' Interest in Science

(43:58) - How Sphinx Leverages AI Models

(45:59) - Managing Hallucinations

(47:52) - Scientists: Give AI Another Try

(49:02) - The Business and Cycles of TechBio

(53:32) - Google's Co-Scientist, Notebook LM, and Other Science Ventures

(57:43) - Protein Folding Playground

(00:58:58) - "Wrapper" Companies In Era of Foundation Model Commoditization

(01:01:56) - Bits in Bio Community & Growth

(01:04:25) - Try Sphinx's Platform; Work for Sphinx; Support Your Local Scientist
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Platforms:

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...more
1h 7min
April 02, 2025Inside the DOE's Autonomous Lab for Materials Discovery - David Milsted, Lab Systems Engineer
David Milsted is a postdoctoral researcher at the “A-Lab” for autonomous materials discovery, located at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Please note: The views expressed in this video by David are his own and not those of his colleagues.
See below for episode links, chapters, and our socials. Hosted by Nabil Laoudji.
Support the podcast! Subscribe to our newsletter: www.discoveryengines.co. Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:

David's LinkedIn

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab

A-Lab

Ceder Group

UC Berkeley

Mississippi State University

Wood Science

Chapters:

(00:00) - Preview & Introduction

(04:37) - LBNL Fun Facts

(05:40) - David’s Journey Into Lab Automation (Wood Science, Automation Engineering)

(10:26) - Why Wood Science

(14:54) - Journey From Brazil To LBNL

(25:50) - Material Discovery Process Steps

(29:37) - Predicting Materials Properties

(35:07) - Synthesizing Materials With Automation

(43:21) - Testing Novel Materials

(44:58) - Orchestrating Automated Labs (A-Lab OS)

(49:14) - Shifting From Independent to Team-Based Projects

(53:28) - University-Government Lab Structure

(57:41) - What Inspired A Lab’s Vision

(01:02:40) - Growth in Autonomous Lab Investment

(01:05:34) - Future of Characterization Via Microscopy

(01:10:22) - A Lab Tour (Core Components)

(01:15:44) - Vendor Support: Mitsubishi, Labman, MTI, etc

(01:18:58) - Managing Input Inventory For Runs

(01:20:12) - Furnace Deep Dive

(01:24:06) - Parallel Processing

(01:25:43) - Vendor Automation Out of the Box; Importance of Societal Awareness
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Platforms:

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1h 30min
March 19, 2025Unlocking Cancer Priming Therapies (& Lab Tour) - Transon Nguyen of Eigen Therapeutics
Transon Nguyen is the CEO and Co-Founder of Eigen Therapeutics, a biotech startup leveraging AI and lab automation to develop priming therapies that make cancer easier to find and eliminate.
Hosted by Nabil Laoudji. My guest co-host is Jimmy Sastra! This episode is sponsored by Monomer Bio. See below for episode links, chapters, and how to connect with us.
Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:

Eigen Therapeutics

Transon Nguyen's LinkedIn

Monomer Bio

Jimmy Sastra's LinkedIn

Radioligand Therapy

Antibody–Drug Conjugates (ADCs)

Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS)

Chapters:

(00:00) - Teaser

(00:36) - Introducing My Guest Co-Host: Jimmy Sastra of Monomer Bio

(11:24) - Introducing Transon Nguyen, CEO of Eigen Therapeutics

(12:54) - Transon's Path Into Biomedical Engineering

(15:45) - Science In Industry vs Academia: Importance of Culture

(18:27) - Co-Founding Eigen Tx: A Confluence of Factors

(24:27) - How to Find New Ideas

(25:15) - Cost of ADCs and Radioligand Therapies

(27:00) - Testing The Effectiveness of Priming Therapies

(31:23) - How Patients Take Priming Therapies

(33:19) - Importance of Empathy In Multidisciplinary Teams

(37:54) - Lab Tour: Intro, Flexible Design

(39:33) - Different "Homes" / Areas of The Lab

(43:32) - Custom Built LIMS

(48:54) - Robot Test Suite Demo

(51:41) - A Look At Custom-Built LIMS

(55:56) - Favorite Instruments

(57:44) - Business of BioTech: Making The Numbers Work

(59:09) - Don't Over-Automate

(01:01:13) - Keeping The Lab Clean

(01:03:01) - Moving Beyond Just Solving Problems

(01:05:05) - Reframing Personal Identity and Seeing the Whole System

(01:08:31) - Relevance of AI Foundation Models, Virtual Cells to Eigen's Mission

(01:12:50) - Contact Transon to Learn More About Priming Therapies

Connect With Us:

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Bluesky

LinkedIn

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Platforms:

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...more
1h 16min
March 05, 2025Unlocking Lab Automation - Sudha Gollapudi & Madeline Wolf of The Automated Lab
Sudha Gollapudi & Madeline Wolf (ex Genentech, Ginkgo Bioworks, Calico/Alphabet) are lab automation experts and co-founders of The Automated Lab: an open resource and contract engineering service for building automated labs. See below for episode links and chapters.
Support the podcast! Subscribe to our newsletter.
Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:

The Automated Lab

Open Source Resource Page

Vivo Hamilton Liquid Handler Chatbot

Automated Lab Patreon

Sudha's LinkedIn

Madeline's LinkedIn

ELISA Biochemistry Assay

Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS)
Chapters:

(00:00) - Teaser

(00:54) - Episode Introduction & Preview

(05:38) - Sudha and Madeline’s Academic + Professional Experience

(06:53) - Madeline’s Path Into Biotech Lab Automation

(09:40) - Sudha’s Path Into Biotech Lab Automation

(10:55) - Career Pathways Into Lab Automation

(15:38) - What Encompasses Lab Automation?

(17:29) - Lab Automation Example: Workcell for ELISA Immunological Assay

(22:19) - Environmental Impact of Lab Automation

(27:31) - SLAS Conference Hot Takes; Move to Smaller Footprint Products

(36:28) - Modular-First Design In Lab Automation

(41:51) - LIMs, ELNs, And Making Data More Accessible

(46:10) - Solving the Human-Robot Interface With NLP, Flexible Data Infrastructure

(52:23) - Automation For R&D vs Manufacturing

(57:07) - Adapting The Culture of Science To Increased Automation

(01:00:29) - Standardizing Scientific Language

(01:08:02) - How To Partner With The Automated Lab
Connect With Us:

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Bluesky

LinkedIn

Instagram

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1h 11min
February 20, 2025Accelerating Cancer Research - Hani Goodarzi of Arc Institute, UCSF, Exai Bio
Hani Goodarzi is Quantitative and Computational Biologist, Core Investigator at the Arc Institute, Associate Professor at UCSF, and co-founder of Exai Bio and Vevo Therapeutics. Episode links and chapters below.
Hosted by Nabil Laoudji. Support the podcast! Subscribe to our newsletter. Thanks for watching 🙏🤙
Episode Links:
Arc Institute
Goodarzi Lab
Exai Bio
Vevo Therapeutics
UCSF Cancer Center
Hani's LinkedIn
Greg Brockman's Post
NCI Cancer Stats
Chapters:

(00:00) - Teaser

(02:12) - Episode Introduction & Preview

(07:35) - Hani’s Path Into Quantitative and Computational Biology

(11:55) - The Emerging Promise of Foundation Models Such as Evo 2

(15:53) - Dry Side vs. Wet Side of Biology

(22:23) - Pivoting Into AI for Life Science From Unrelated Domains, and the Importance of Culture in Cross-Functional Teams

(27:28) - How to Develop Multidisciplinary Teams: Brutal Honesty

(30:07) - How Arc Institute’s Org and Funding Structure Enables Innovative Science

(36:24) - How Tech Founders Are Pushing Biotech Innovation

(39:07) - Hani’s Collaboration with NVIDIA and Greg Brockman of OpenAI

(43:57) - The Science Behind Exai’s Early Cancer Detection Platform

(52:05) - DNA Methylation to Improve Cancer-Specific Signals From Blood

(55:25) - UCSF’s Application of This Technology for Breast Cancer Detection

(58:34) - How Startups Help Bridge the Science “Valley of Death”

(01:04:24) - Supporting Hani’s Work Through Scientific Contributions, Evangelism, and Applying the Scientific Method Across Disciplines
Connect With Us:

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Bluesky

LinkedIn

Instagram

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1h 8min
February 06, 2025Accelerating Scientist Founders - Hemai Parthasarathy of Google X, Thiel Foundation, Nature, MIT
Hemai Parthasarathy is a neuroscientist (Johns Hopkins, MIT), Editor (Nature, PLOS), and expert at helping deep tech startups build and scale (Thiel Foundation, Google X, MIT The Engine). See below for episode links, chapters, our socials, and how to send us feedback. Want to dig deeper? Check out our newsletter. Thanks for hanging with us 🙏🤙
Episode Links:
Hemai's Linkedin
Google X
Breakout Ventures
Thiel Foundation
MIT The Engine
Nature
PLOS Biology
Center for Open Science
Chapters:
(00:00) - Preview & Introduction
(04:36) - Hemai’s Experience: Google X, Breakout Labs, PLOS, Nature
(05:40) - Starting As A Scientist
(07:02) - How Science Actually Happens
(10:02) - Why Science Communication
(14:59) - PLOS Founding Story & Publishing Pledge
(18:24) - Current State of Open Science & Scientific Publishing
(23:37) - Founding Mission of Thiel Foundation’s Breakout Labs
(27:36) - What Breakout Labs Got Right
(29:54) - Protecting IP As A Deep Tech Startup
(34:29) - Patient Capital and Corporate Innovation at Google X
(41:02) - Bridging the Startup Valley of Death
(44:11) - Factoring In Politics As A Deep Tech Founder
(47:11) - New Entrants to Deep Tech
(50:48) - E11’s Breakthroughs as a Focused Research Organization
(54:55) - MIT’s The Engine for “Tough Tech”
(56:43) - Annual Reviews & Helping Society Benefit from Scientific Knowledge
(01:00:04) - Opportunities to Partner, Invest, and Mentor
Connect With Us:
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LinkedIn
Instagram
Feedback, questions, or discuss appearing on Discovery Engines
Platforms:
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...more
1h 2min

FAQs about Discovery Engines – with Nabil:

How many episodes does Discovery Engines – with Nabil have?

The podcast currently has 13 episodes available.