Seemay Chou
@seemaychou.bsky.social
Scientist. Co-founder/CEO @ Arcadia Science. Board @ Astera and The Navigation Fund. Texan in CA.
We’ve been heads down @ArcadiaScience for a bit but the @arenabioworks news this week caused me to dump thoughts. hard things are hard; don’t be such a fucking hater. Reflections on parallels w our own institutional experiment here seemay.substack.com/p/big-experi...
Big experiments are only big if they can fail
Some reflections on Arena Bioworks' unexpected wind down as a fellow institutional experimentalist
seemay.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:20 PM
We’ve been heads down @ArcadiaScience for a bit but the @arenabioworks news this week caused me to dump thoughts. hard things are hard; don’t be such a fucking hater. Reflections on parallels w our own institutional experiment here seemay.substack.com/p/big-experi...
I spend a lot of time talking to potential grantees about our open science policy. Some field notes here:
open.substack.com/pub/seemay/p...
open.substack.com/pub/seemay/p...
Why careerism can be bad for science training
Some field notes from scholarly publishing discussions with scientists
open.substack.com
October 21, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I spend a lot of time talking to potential grantees about our open science policy. Some field notes here:
open.substack.com/pub/seemay/p...
open.substack.com/pub/seemay/p...
Reposted by Seemay Chou
Want to get involved, share your ideas, or just stay in the loop with email updates? Let us know here: forms.gle/37pK2smABwbg...
Diffuse Project Interest Form
Interested in the Diffuse Project? Please provide your information to help us shape community engagement and potentially direct you to the right project member.
forms.gle
August 14, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Want to get involved, share your ideas, or just stay in the loop with email updates? Let us know here: forms.gle/37pK2smABwbg...
A note in here for other science philanthropists… we have a chance rn to help scientists rethink systems, technical & operational. They’re game to take useful risks, let’s help them. Coming soon: more open science research, experimenting outside journals… seemay.substack.com/p/from-syste...
August 13, 2025 at 4:04 PM
A note in here for other science philanthropists… we have a chance rn to help scientists rethink systems, technical & operational. They’re game to take useful risks, let’s help them. Coming soon: more open science research, experimenting outside journals… seemay.substack.com/p/from-syste...
Reposted by Seemay Chou
We are thrilled to be part of Project Diffuse, building infrastructure for the dynamic future of structural biology.
We are helping to lead the modeling and encoding efforts of this project, including designing infrastructure that allows AI to learn from the full complexity of experimental data.
We are helping to lead the modeling and encoding efforts of this project, including designing infrastructure that allows AI to learn from the full complexity of experimental data.
What’s the next PDB? Maybe it’s …the PDB.
We just launched @diffuseproject.bsky.social a structural biology initiative exploring protein motion & rethinking how we generate and use experimental data. Quick 🧵👇
www.diffuse.science
We just launched @diffuseproject.bsky.social a structural biology initiative exploring protein motion & rethinking how we generate and use experimental data. Quick 🧵👇
www.diffuse.science
The Diffuse Project
The Diffuse Project
www.diffuse.science
August 12, 2025 at 5:20 PM
We are thrilled to be part of Project Diffuse, building infrastructure for the dynamic future of structural biology.
We are helping to lead the modeling and encoding efforts of this project, including designing infrastructure that allows AI to learn from the full complexity of experimental data.
We are helping to lead the modeling and encoding efforts of this project, including designing infrastructure that allows AI to learn from the full complexity of experimental data.
Reposted by Seemay Chou
Announcing the Diffuse Project! We're unlocking protein dynamics through diffuse X-ray scattering - the overlooked signal that could revolutionize how we understand protein motion. seemay.substack.com/p/from-syste...
From systems operators to systems architects
Going up a level from data generation to think about the data systems we design and embed
seemay.substack.com
August 12, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Announcing the Diffuse Project! We're unlocking protein dynamics through diffuse X-ray scattering - the overlooked signal that could revolutionize how we understand protein motion. seemay.substack.com/p/from-syste...
What’s the next PDB? Maybe it’s …the PDB.
We just launched @diffuseproject.bsky.social a structural biology initiative exploring protein motion & rethinking how we generate and use experimental data. Quick 🧵👇
www.diffuse.science
We just launched @diffuseproject.bsky.social a structural biology initiative exploring protein motion & rethinking how we generate and use experimental data. Quick 🧵👇
www.diffuse.science
The Diffuse Project
The Diffuse Project
www.diffuse.science
August 12, 2025 at 4:16 PM
What’s the next PDB? Maybe it’s …the PDB.
We just launched @diffuseproject.bsky.social a structural biology initiative exploring protein motion & rethinking how we generate and use experimental data. Quick 🧵👇
www.diffuse.science
We just launched @diffuseproject.bsky.social a structural biology initiative exploring protein motion & rethinking how we generate and use experimental data. Quick 🧵👇
www.diffuse.science
After many yrs building internally @arcadiascience.com we're now able to partner more with others on cool organisms. You won't hurt my feelings if you don't read my post, but don't miss out on our first organismal spotlight animation featuring sea squirts -- just skip to the bottom! 🧵
August 5, 2025 at 6:56 PM
After many yrs building internally @arcadiascience.com we're now able to partner more with others on cool organisms. You won't hurt my feelings if you don't read my post, but don't miss out on our first organismal spotlight animation featuring sea squirts -- just skip to the bottom! 🧵
A v common suggestion I get re: publishing work outside journals is "if you just get some elite scientists to do it, everyone else will do it." This is an instinct that may seem sound, but here's what I've found irl:
We're excited to take this step, and to talk to other folks who are interested in experimenting. If you have something you're excited to try, reply here -- and we might even fund it. asterainstitute.substack.com/p/scientific...
Scientific Publishing: Enough is Enough
Why we're no longer funding journal publications
asterainstitute.substack.com
June 5, 2025 at 3:29 PM
A v common suggestion I get re: publishing work outside journals is "if you just get some elite scientists to do it, everyone else will do it." This is an instinct that may seem sound, but here's what I've found irl:
We did something radical that shouldn’t feel radical: we stopped funding science built for journals so that we can reimagine scientific publishing. First @arcadiascience.com. Now at @asterainstitute.bsky.social.
June 3, 2025 at 5:55 AM
We did something radical that shouldn’t feel radical: we stopped funding science built for journals so that we can reimagine scientific publishing. First @arcadiascience.com. Now at @asterainstitute.bsky.social.
We @navigation.org are looking for proposals on how to move scientific publishing into the future. If you think we can do better, stop complaining and come build by applying AI towards open science
os.nav.fund/ai-for-os/
os.nav.fund/ai-for-os/
AI for Open Science - Request for Proposals
os.nav.fund
April 25, 2025 at 5:40 PM
We @navigation.org are looking for proposals on how to move scientific publishing into the future. If you think we can do better, stop complaining and come build by applying AI towards open science
os.nav.fund/ai-for-os/
os.nav.fund/ai-for-os/
Zoogle! Our new tool from @arcadiascience for picking research organisms. Even if you’re not a scientist, you should care that we spend >$50B/yr on clinical trials based on organismal models (>90% failure rate). Read more about Zoogle here: arcadiascience.com/blog/zoogle
February 12, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Zoogle! Our new tool from @arcadiascience for picking research organisms. Even if you’re not a scientist, you should care that we spend >$50B/yr on clinical trials based on organismal models (>90% failure rate). Read more about Zoogle here: arcadiascience.com/blog/zoogle
Today we're sharing a new data initiative @asterainstitute.bsky.social near and dear to my microbiologist heart. W all the chatter about predictive models, what would it actually take to generate data that are broadly useful/interoperable for predicting functions?
astera.org/request-for-...
astera.org/request-for-...
Request for Information - Astera Institute
Data Requirements for Microbial Machine Learning Models What microbes can do Microbes have fundamentally shaped our bodies, our environment, and our understanding of biology. As a window into living s...
astera.org
January 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Today we're sharing a new data initiative @asterainstitute.bsky.social near and dear to my microbiologist heart. W all the chatter about predictive models, what would it actually take to generate data that are broadly useful/interoperable for predicting functions?
astera.org/request-for-...
astera.org/request-for-...
I’ll forgive @wilbanks.bsky.social for dropping the P-word (just this once) — if you’re curious about what kinds of data initiatives we’re gettin after @asterainstitute.bsky.social give his talk a listen. More deets on some big projects coming soon 👀
youtu.be/4Xnlf-sI0DM
youtu.be/4Xnlf-sI0DM
Building scalable public data sets for scientific innovation
YouTube video by Roots of Progress Institute
youtu.be
December 24, 2024 at 11:07 PM
I’ll forgive @wilbanks.bsky.social for dropping the P-word (just this once) — if you’re curious about what kinds of data initiatives we’re gettin after @asterainstitute.bsky.social give his talk a listen. More deets on some big projects coming soon 👀
youtu.be/4Xnlf-sI0DM
youtu.be/4Xnlf-sI0DM
Reposted by Seemay Chou
An example of how the limited and biased availability of data narrows the range of functional biology PLMs tap into for prediction and design
research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-p...
research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-p...
December 22, 2024 at 4:07 PM
An example of how the limited and biased availability of data narrows the range of functional biology PLMs tap into for prediction and design
research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-p...
research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-p...
Here's another cool example from Matt Daugherty's group on how tracing evolutionary signal gives us insights into how bio inventions like vertebrate eyes were "engineered" in the wild (my only complaint is that there is no preprint for this Matt 😉).
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
December 22, 2024 at 4:18 PM
Here's another cool example from Matt Daugherty's group on how tracing evolutionary signal gives us insights into how bio inventions like vertebrate eyes were "engineered" in the wild (my only complaint is that there is no preprint for this Matt 😉).
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Picking the right research organisms/models in a data-driven way is a huge problem that will require all of us to fix -- no one denies this is a problem, no matter who you talk to (academia, pharma, etc). Yet we pour BILLIONS each year into clinical trials based on faulty animal models.
And disease models: research.arcadiascience.com/pub/result-e...
Leveraging evolution to identify novel organismal models of human biology
Researching just a handful of organisms limits biological discovery. We developed an approach pairing organisms with biological questions to expand research biodiversity.
research.arcadiascience.com
December 22, 2024 at 4:05 PM
Picking the right research organisms/models in a data-driven way is a huge problem that will require all of us to fix -- no one denies this is a problem, no matter who you talk to (academia, pharma, etc). Yet we pour BILLIONS each year into clinical trials based on faulty animal models.
Another way to structure data is thru lens of evolution. People forget this was a key unlock for protein predictions (MSAs). There's not enough data/compute/$ for big AI promises without. Why I've devoted all my energy to old school, open evo tools @arcadiascience.com -- that's "big bio" IMO
The essential role of natural language in representing biology
--AI-Science community all-in on bio foundation models, will no-doubt be awesome
--However, the representation spaces in those models are too structured for most phenomena
--Language will be essential, currently largely underappreciated
--AI-Science community all-in on bio foundation models, will no-doubt be awesome
--However, the representation spaces in those models are too structured for most phenomena
--Language will be essential, currently largely underappreciated
The essential role of natural language in representing biology
At the time of writing, it is December 2024, and I am at NeurIPS. The word of the day, at least in the AI for Biology community, is foundation models. Everyone wants bigger data on more things to thro...
www.sam-rodriques.com
December 22, 2024 at 4:03 PM
Another way to structure data is thru lens of evolution. People forget this was a key unlock for protein predictions (MSAs). There's not enough data/compute/$ for big AI promises without. Why I've devoted all my energy to old school, open evo tools @arcadiascience.com -- that's "big bio" IMO
The last 2 weeks have brought so many changes, I’ve found it hard to say anything that encapsulates — taking a work hiatus for the first time in my adult life, the election, giving birth. For now I’ll just intro to my latest biology experiment. Meet Hazel everyone👇🥰
November 15, 2024 at 10:24 AM
The last 2 weeks have brought so many changes, I’ve found it hard to say anything that encapsulates — taking a work hiatus for the first time in my adult life, the election, giving birth. For now I’ll just intro to my latest biology experiment. Meet Hazel everyone👇🥰
Finally stepping into the 🔵 here, looking for people to follow. Interested in science, startups, and a sense of humor - recs?
November 15, 2024 at 10:10 AM
Finally stepping into the 🔵 here, looking for people to follow. Interested in science, startups, and a sense of humor - recs?
1 more week before we dig into EA apps @ArcadiaScience. Know someone unapologetically TypeA who wants front row seats to building a new science org/biotech start-up? I hope they quickly grow into Chief of Staff. I value drive/generalist competence >>> experience/polish. jobs.lever.co/arcadiascien...
February 16, 2024 at 5:14 PM
1 more week before we dig into EA apps @ArcadiaScience. Know someone unapologetically TypeA who wants front row seats to building a new science org/biotech start-up? I hope they quickly grow into Chief of Staff. I value drive/generalist competence >>> experience/polish. jobs.lever.co/arcadiascien...
entrepreneurs also know about failing fast, but it sucks to not share learnings. i'm interested in funding ~10 icebox experiments thru @AsteraInstitute for start-ups that want to publish their science as/after they ramp down. hit me up: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Icebox: Biotech Start-up Edition
Information gathering on biotech start-ups that are ramping down and want to publish their results.
docs.google.com
December 2, 2023 at 10:08 PM
entrepreneurs also know about failing fast, but it sucks to not share learnings. i'm interested in funding ~10 icebox experiments thru @AsteraInstitute for start-ups that want to publish their science as/after they ramp down. hit me up: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
I’m bullish on the future of science, and we are putting money where our mouth is. Know someone stellar who can help us accelerate progress in open science? boards.greenhouse.io/navigationfu...
November 6, 2023 at 3:32 PM
I’m bullish on the future of science, and we are putting money where our mouth is. Know someone stellar who can help us accelerate progress in open science? boards.greenhouse.io/navigationfu...
Reposted by Seemay Chou
The Chow Lab is looking for multiple postdocs to work on Precision Medicine for rare disease! Opportunities to work with industry, patient foundations and physicians. Starting pay will be substantially higher than NIH minimum. DM or email me!
https://t.co/gQA8peq22G
https://t.co/gQA8peq22G
August 8, 2023 at 9:55 PM
The Chow Lab is looking for multiple postdocs to work on Precision Medicine for rare disease! Opportunities to work with industry, patient foundations and physicians. Starting pay will be substantially higher than NIH minimum. DM or email me!
https://t.co/gQA8peq22G
https://t.co/gQA8peq22G