Γ

SynBioBeta Speaker

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

Fay is a computational biologist turned science journalist. As Senior Editor, Technology at Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), Fay covers the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and biology with a particular focus on drug discovery and healthcare. Prior to joining GEN, she was a founding Senior Editor of GEN Biotechnology, GEN‘s sister peer review journal launched in 2022 publishing outstanding research and review articles across the biotech field. Fay’s work has been published across multiple media outlets for science communication and outreach, including Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), BioTechniques, and Inside Higher Ed. She earned her PhD in Biochemistry from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she developed mathematical models to decipher cell signaling in immune response.

Sessions Featuring

Fay

This Year

Main Stage Panel

11:30 AM

-

12:00 PM

AIxBIO

The Programmable Protein Era: How AI Rewrites the Rules of Biomolecules

Biologics and engineered proteins have traditionally evolved through cycles of intuition, screening, and incremental optimization. Today, AI is transforming proteins into programmable systems; governed by learnable patterns across activity, stability, expression, specificity, manufacturability, and environmental performance. This shift is unlocking a new generation of biomolecules, from next-generation therapeutics to sustainable enzymes and functional biological systems, that would have been impossible to design by hand. In this session, leaders from biopharma, industrial biotech, machine learning, and protein engineering will explore how multiparameter optimization, generative modeling, and closed-loop experimental validation are reshaping biomolecular design across domains. From clinical biologics to planetary-scale applications, we examine the shift from trial-and-error to predictive, constraint-driven design, and what it means for R&D timelines, scalability, and real-world impact.

Featuring

Elise de Reus

Cradle

Co-founder

Making proteins an engineering discipline

Peter Clark

Novo Nordisk

VP, CDD

Computational drug-design leader, shipped candidates from CAR-T to peptides.

Jose Carlos Garcia-Garcia

Procter & Gamble

Sr. Dir., Research Fellow

Builds biotech “from microbes to marketplace” at consumer scale.

Luis Cascão Pereira

IFF Health & Biosciences

Head of R&D Ventures & Digital Biology

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

Main Stage Panel

11:30 AM

-

12:00 PM

AIxBIO

The Programmable Protein Era: How AI Rewrites the Rules of Biomolecules

Biologics and engineered proteins have traditionally evolved through cycles of intuition, screening, and incremental optimization. Today, AI is transforming proteins into programmable systems; governed by learnable patterns across activity, stability, expression, specificity, manufacturability, and environmental performance. This shift is unlocking a new generation of biomolecules, from next-generation therapeutics to sustainable enzymes and functional biological systems, that would have been impossible to design by hand. In this session, leaders from biopharma, industrial biotech, machine learning, and protein engineering will explore how multiparameter optimization, generative modeling, and closed-loop experimental validation are reshaping biomolecular design across domains. From clinical biologics to planetary-scale applications, we examine the shift from trial-and-error to predictive, constraint-driven design, and what it means for R&D timelines, scalability, and real-world impact.

Featuring

Elise de Reus

Cradle

Co-founder

Making proteins an engineering discipline

Peter Clark

Novo Nordisk

VP, CDD

Computational drug-design leader, shipped candidates from CAR-T to peptides.

Jose Carlos Garcia-Garcia

Procter & Gamble

Sr. Dir., Research Fellow

Builds biotech “from microbes to marketplace” at consumer scale.

Luis Cascão Pereira

IFF Health & Biosciences

Head of R&D Ventures & Digital Biology

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

Breakout Session

3:30 PM

-

4:15 PM

AIxBIO

The New Computational Biology Stack: Models, Compute, and Experimental Feedback

AI is transforming biology into a fully integrated computational discipline, where discovery depends on the seamless interaction between models, compute infrastructure, and experimental systems. As foundation models for proteins, genomes, and cellular systems mature, the challenge is no longer prediction alone. It is building a unified stack that connects generative design, large-scale computation, and rapid experimental feedback into continuous learning loops. This session explores how the next generation of computational biology platforms is emerging at the intersection of cloud computing, GPU-accelerated modeling, advanced simulation, and high-throughput experimental infrastructure. Leaders across AI, biotech, and technology will discuss how tightly integrated design-build-test-learn cycles are reshaping therapeutic discovery, enabling adaptive model refinement, and accelerating the transition from in silico hypotheses to real-world biological outcomes.

Featuring

Elise de Reus

Cradle

Co-founder

Making proteins an engineering discipline

Dan Spellman

Oracle

VP of AI & OCI, Health & Science

Esteban Toro

Twist Bioscience

VP, Research & Development

Anthony Costa

NVIDIA

Director, Digital Biology

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

Breakout Session

3:30 PM

-

4:15 PM

AIxBIO

The New Computational Biology Stack: Models, Compute, and Experimental Feedback

AI is transforming biology into a fully integrated computational discipline, where discovery depends on the seamless interaction between models, compute infrastructure, and experimental systems. As foundation models for proteins, genomes, and cellular systems mature, the challenge is no longer prediction alone. It is building a unified stack that connects generative design, large-scale computation, and rapid experimental feedback into continuous learning loops. This session explores how the next generation of computational biology platforms is emerging at the intersection of cloud computing, GPU-accelerated modeling, advanced simulation, and high-throughput experimental infrastructure. Leaders across AI, biotech, and technology will discuss how tightly integrated design-build-test-learn cycles are reshaping therapeutic discovery, enabling adaptive model refinement, and accelerating the transition from in silico hypotheses to real-world biological outcomes.

Featuring

Elise de Reus

Cradle

Co-founder

Making proteins an engineering discipline

Dan Spellman

Oracle

VP of AI & OCI, Health & Science

Esteban Toro

Twist Bioscience

VP, Research & Development

Anthony Costa

NVIDIA

Director, Digital Biology

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

Breakout Session

4:30 PM

-

5:15 PM

AIxBIO

Rewriting Enzyme Performance: Next-Gen Platforms for AI-Driven Protein Screening

AI is rapidly transforming how therapeutic enzymes and protein drug candidates are discovered, engineered, and validated. Generative models can now propose millions of novel variants optimized for specificity, stability, and target engagement. But the true bottleneck is no longer design, it is screening at scale. As model-generated libraries expand exponentially, the need for faster, more predictive experimental systems has become critical to translate computational insights into clinically relevant performance. This session explores the emerging generation of integrated platforms that combine AI-guided design, high-throughput functional screening, automation, and advanced analytics to accelerate therapeutic protein discovery. From self-driving labs and multiplexed cellular assays to adaptive screening strategies that prioritize pharmacologically meaningful readouts over simple activity metrics, speakers will examine how next-gen infrastructure is reshaping enzyme optimization for drug development.

Featuring

Weston Kightlinger

Ridge Bio

CEO

Cell-free synthesis pioneer building precision enzyme therapeutics.

Will Cao

Pando

CEO

Founder making enzyme development 80% cheaper

Stefan Lutz

Codexis Inc.

CSO

Directed-evolution expert shaping next-generation enzyme engineering.

David Virant

Acies Bio

Department Head

Ewa Lis

Koliber Bio

Founder & CEO

AI-driven peptide/protein drug-discovery builder (also microbiome engineering).

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

Breakout Session

4:30 PM

-

5:15 PM

AIxBIO

Rewriting Enzyme Performance: Next-Gen Platforms for AI-Driven Protein Screening

AI is rapidly transforming how therapeutic enzymes and protein drug candidates are discovered, engineered, and validated. Generative models can now propose millions of novel variants optimized for specificity, stability, and target engagement. But the true bottleneck is no longer design, it is screening at scale. As model-generated libraries expand exponentially, the need for faster, more predictive experimental systems has become critical to translate computational insights into clinically relevant performance. This session explores the emerging generation of integrated platforms that combine AI-guided design, high-throughput functional screening, automation, and advanced analytics to accelerate therapeutic protein discovery. From self-driving labs and multiplexed cellular assays to adaptive screening strategies that prioritize pharmacologically meaningful readouts over simple activity metrics, speakers will examine how next-gen infrastructure is reshaping enzyme optimization for drug development.

Featuring

Weston Kightlinger

Ridge Bio

CEO

Cell-free synthesis pioneer building precision enzyme therapeutics.

Will Cao

Pando

CEO

Founder making enzyme development 80% cheaper

Stefan Lutz

Codexis Inc.

CSO

Directed-evolution expert shaping next-generation enzyme engineering.

David Virant

Acies Bio

Department Head

Ewa Lis

Koliber Bio

Founder & CEO

AI-driven peptide/protein drug-discovery builder (also microbiome engineering).

Fay Lin

GEN

Sr Editor, Technology

TBD

Session lineup still growing

Featuring

Speaker Coming Soon

Fireside Chat

12:00 AM

-

8:30 AM

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?

Featuring

Speaker Coming Soon

Previous Speakers Include