Whitney Pennington-Rogers

I think this is also a really nice segue to talking about the Nobel Prize, which is a great way to sort of put focus on this incredible work you're doing.

So late last year, of course, you get word that you've been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Can you tell us about how you received this news and what that experience was like?

That's great.

Well, David, I don't think you'll be surprised to know that we're getting tons of questions from the member community.

And so I wanna start to bring some of those to you to integrate into the conversation.

We have one from Les B who asks, how do you see technologies like CRISPR and gene editing intersecting with your AI driven protein design?

Could combining these tools accelerate the development of targeted therapies or sustainable biological solutions?

Lachlan F. is curious about the pros and cons of your scientific work being either a completely open source like OpenFold or proprietary like AlphaFold.

And can both of these options accelerate progress and possibly maybe limit public benefits as well?

And that speaks to something that we're seeing a lot from the community, which are just questions around how to ensure that the proteins you're designing and just as we think about just AI and technological acceleration in general, that it remains in the best interests of humanity, global peace, kindness.

How do we safeguard against misuse in a world where

Excuse me, that's great.

It seems like there is some thought to how to create this responsibly as we're entering what feels like a really brave new world.

And that there you believe that there are more benefits to pursuing this than the risks that are presented.

Right.

Well, when you think about the future and sort of where this is headed, we have a question from Nicholas Dean.

If you see a future where computational design of proteins could potentially displace approaches like evolution, or will it never reach those heights?

And when you think about your work in protein development, so much of what this conversation has been focused on, the things you said in 2019, and when you gave your talk, what do you foresee in six years from now, when we speak again, where do you think things will be?

What do you believe you focused on?