No Priors Ep. 121 | With Chai Discovery Co-Founders Jack Dent and Joshua Meier

AI has already fueled breakthroughs in biotechnology—but now, further advances in AI are poised to fuel pharmaceutical discoveries as well. Sarah Guo sits down with Joshua Meier and Jack Dent, co-founders of Chai Discovery, whose newly launched Chai-2 designs bespoke antibodies that bind to their targets at a jaw-dropping 20% rate. Jack and Joshua talk about the implications for Chai-2’s success rate at discovering antibodies for the pharmaceutical industry, how structure prediction is pivotal in making the model work, and future potential for using the model to optimize other molecular properties. Plus, they talk about what they believe bioscientists should be learning to best utilize Chai-2’s technology. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @_jackdent | @joshim5 Chapters: 00:00 – Joshua Meier and Jack Dent Introduction 01:09 – Genesis of Chai Discovery 06:12 – Chai-2 Model 10:13 – Criteria for Specifying Targets for Chai-2 13:12 – How the Chai-2 Model Works 16:12 – Emergent Vocabulary from Chai-2 18:15 – Hopes for Chai-2’s Impact 20:33 – Reception of the Chai-2 Model 22:16 – Future of Wet Lab Screening and Biotech 27:08 – Optimizing Other Molecule Properties 31:37 – Where Chai Invests From Here 36:20 – What Bioscientists Should Learn for Chai-2 40:23 – How Jack and Josh Oriented to the Biotech Space 43:38 – Platform Investment and Chai-2 46:53 – Scaling Chai Discovery 48:21 – Hiring at Chai Discovery 49:09 – Conclusion