SynBioBeta Speaker
Alex Smith
ARIA
Programme Specialist
As a Programme Specialist at ARIA, I work alongside our Programme Directors to turn "big if true" scientific visions into successful, operational reality. My role is centered on the "how" of innovation—building the frameworks and processes needed to move complex research from a bold idea toward a real-world goal. Currently, I’m working on our Accelerated Adaptation programme, a £54M effort to build ecosystem resilience. I act as the primary interface between ARIA and our network of Creators. My background is in leading complex transformation initiatives. Before joining the team at ARIA, I spent my career navigating large-scale change within UK public infrastructure and higher education, including roles at the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the London School of Economics, and the Universities of York and Newcastle.
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Human Health
From Cells to Patients: Solving the Scale Mismatch in Virtual Biology
Drug discovery often measures biology at the cell level while interventions work at the tissue, organ, or whole-patient scale. This mismatch can make accurate cell-level predictions irrelevant in the clinic. This session dives into strategies to bridge that gap: multiscale modeling that nests single-cell dynamics within organ-level simulations, spatial transcriptomics that preserve context, and surrogate models that translate cell-level outputs into clinical biomarkers. Speakers will ask: how do we ensure virtual biology reflects not just what cells do in isolation, but how biology behaves in the real complexity of patients?
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