Erika DeBenedictis
@erika-alden.bsky.social
Happy to announce a new preprint from my former academic lab, where we use PACE to evolve halogenase enzymes!
Congrats to Andre Pulschen and Justin Booth who led the study!
Congrats to Andre Pulschen and Justin Booth who led the study!
October 9, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Happy to announce a new preprint from my former academic lab, where we use PACE to evolve halogenase enzymes!
Congrats to Andre Pulschen and Justin Booth who led the study!
Congrats to Andre Pulschen and Justin Booth who led the study!
Reposted by Erika DeBenedictis
🧫 Meet the keynote speakers for the 2025 scverse conference!
Erika Alden DeBenedictis, Co-founder of The Align Foundation & CEO of Pioneer Labs
@erika-alden.bsky.social
@alignbio.bsky.social
@pioneerlabs.bsky.social
#scverse #scverse2025 #StructuralBiology #Biotech #Stanford
Erika Alden DeBenedictis, Co-founder of The Align Foundation & CEO of Pioneer Labs
@erika-alden.bsky.social
@alignbio.bsky.social
@pioneerlabs.bsky.social
#scverse #scverse2025 #StructuralBiology #Biotech #Stanford
August 26, 2025 at 2:36 PM
🧫 Meet the keynote speakers for the 2025 scverse conference!
Erika Alden DeBenedictis, Co-founder of The Align Foundation & CEO of Pioneer Labs
@erika-alden.bsky.social
@alignbio.bsky.social
@pioneerlabs.bsky.social
#scverse #scverse2025 #StructuralBiology #Biotech #Stanford
Erika Alden DeBenedictis, Co-founder of The Align Foundation & CEO of Pioneer Labs
@erika-alden.bsky.social
@alignbio.bsky.social
@pioneerlabs.bsky.social
#scverse #scverse2025 #StructuralBiology #Biotech #Stanford
Reposted by Erika DeBenedictis
📣 Evolutionary Scale is supporting the 2025 Protein Engineering Tournament!
Teams get sponsored ESM inference through
@evolutionaryscale.bsky.social's API (Forge), bringing frontier protein AI models into the competition.
Level playing field, real experiments, open results. Register now 👇
Teams get sponsored ESM inference through
@evolutionaryscale.bsky.social's API (Forge), bringing frontier protein AI models into the competition.
Level playing field, real experiments, open results. Register now 👇
August 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM
📣 Evolutionary Scale is supporting the 2025 Protein Engineering Tournament!
Teams get sponsored ESM inference through
@evolutionaryscale.bsky.social's API (Forge), bringing frontier protein AI models into the competition.
Level playing field, real experiments, open results. Register now 👇
Teams get sponsored ESM inference through
@evolutionaryscale.bsky.social's API (Forge), bringing frontier protein AI models into the competition.
Level playing field, real experiments, open results. Register now 👇
By this time next year, either:
🏆 we'll have engineered PETase enzymes actually work industrially & recycle plastic
... or we'll know that AI-for-proteins is still a bit underbaked 😜
Excited to see what happens!!!! 😬
Spread the word ⬇️
🏆 we'll have engineered PETase enzymes actually work industrially & recycle plastic
... or we'll know that AI-for-proteins is still a bit underbaked 😜
Excited to see what happens!!!! 😬
Spread the word ⬇️
1/4
🚀 Announcing the 2025 Protein Engineering Tournament.
This year’s challenge: design PETase enzymes, which degrade the type of plastic in bottles. Can AI-guided protein design help solve the climate crisis? Let’s find out! ⬇️
#AIforBiology #ClimateTech #ProteinEngineering #OpenScience
🚀 Announcing the 2025 Protein Engineering Tournament.
This year’s challenge: design PETase enzymes, which degrade the type of plastic in bottles. Can AI-guided protein design help solve the climate crisis? Let’s find out! ⬇️
#AIforBiology #ClimateTech #ProteinEngineering #OpenScience
July 8, 2025 at 5:08 PM
By this time next year, either:
🏆 we'll have engineered PETase enzymes actually work industrially & recycle plastic
... or we'll know that AI-for-proteins is still a bit underbaked 😜
Excited to see what happens!!!! 😬
Spread the word ⬇️
🏆 we'll have engineered PETase enzymes actually work industrially & recycle plastic
... or we'll know that AI-for-proteins is still a bit underbaked 😜
Excited to see what happens!!!! 😬
Spread the word ⬇️
Heads up: terraforming Mars isn’t just sci-fi, it’s a real possibility that’s possible with today’s technology.
Mars could be green in MY lifetime. 🚀 🌼
What’s stopping us? We need a lot more real research into how to do it right. Don’t nuke Mars!
👇
Mars could be green in MY lifetime. 🚀 🌼
What’s stopping us? We need a lot more real research into how to do it right. Don’t nuke Mars!
👇
May 13, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Heads up: terraforming Mars isn’t just sci-fi, it’s a real possibility that’s possible with today’s technology.
Mars could be green in MY lifetime. 🚀 🌼
What’s stopping us? We need a lot more real research into how to do it right. Don’t nuke Mars!
👇
Mars could be green in MY lifetime. 🚀 🌼
What’s stopping us? We need a lot more real research into how to do it right. Don’t nuke Mars!
👇
Reposted by Erika DeBenedictis
I went to the 2025 Symposium on Biomaterials, Fuels and Chemicals with an invitation from @nils-averesch.bsky.social to speak about our work at @pioneerlabs.bsky.social engineering organisms for sustainable biomanufacturing on Mars! I took 80 pages of notes. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
May 9, 2025 at 12:50 AM
I went to the 2025 Symposium on Biomaterials, Fuels and Chemicals with an invitation from @nils-averesch.bsky.social to speak about our work at @pioneerlabs.bsky.social engineering organisms for sustainable biomanufacturing on Mars! I took 80 pages of notes. docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Can we do BETTER than evolution with the help of AI? It starts with data. 🧬 🔢
Check out @pioneerlabs.bsky.social's breakdown of how we get large-scale, high-fidelity data out of every engineering and evolution experiment!
Check out @pioneerlabs.bsky.social's breakdown of how we get large-scale, high-fidelity data out of every engineering and evolution experiment!
May 9, 2025 at 2:03 AM
Can we do BETTER than evolution with the help of AI? It starts with data. 🧬 🔢
Check out @pioneerlabs.bsky.social's breakdown of how we get large-scale, high-fidelity data out of every engineering and evolution experiment!
Check out @pioneerlabs.bsky.social's breakdown of how we get large-scale, high-fidelity data out of every engineering and evolution experiment!
This proposal is really interesting. Can you measure enzyme kinetics by adjusting substrate concentration *inside* the cell?
On one hand, cells are noisy. On the other, enzymes behave differently in vitro & in vivo. Best to measure in the conditions you care about!
On one hand, cells are noisy. On the other, enzymes behave differently in vitro & in vivo. Best to measure in the conditions you care about!
Measuring precise enzyme kinetics (like kcat and Km) is key to understanding enzyme function. But these measurements are most often conducted in singleplex in vitro assays - expensive and tough to scale. 1/7 🧵👇
April 28, 2025 at 7:04 PM
This proposal is really interesting. Can you measure enzyme kinetics by adjusting substrate concentration *inside* the cell?
On one hand, cells are noisy. On the other, enzymes behave differently in vitro & in vivo. Best to measure in the conditions you care about!
On one hand, cells are noisy. On the other, enzymes behave differently in vitro & in vivo. Best to measure in the conditions you care about!
Very excited by all the execution that's happening at Align! 💪
You know me, I just want to be drowning in data 😛
You know me, I just want to be drowning in data 😛
Q1 at Align =
✅ Team doubled
✅ 65k GROQ-seq datapoints
✅ Genotype-by-Phenotype platform
✅ Global conf. circuit
✅ Tournament prep underway
Get the full download → hubs.la/Q03hT_V60
#ProteinEngineering #AIxBiology #SynBio #OpenScience
✅ Team doubled
✅ 65k GROQ-seq datapoints
✅ Genotype-by-Phenotype platform
✅ Global conf. circuit
✅ Tournament prep underway
Get the full download → hubs.la/Q03hT_V60
#ProteinEngineering #AIxBiology #SynBio #OpenScience
April 17, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Very excited by all the execution that's happening at Align! 💪
You know me, I just want to be drowning in data 😛
You know me, I just want to be drowning in data 😛
Time for a LOT of microbe data! 📊 🦠 🤖
@alignbio.bsky.social is aiming to gather a core dataset composed of phenotypes for 1000 diverse microbes cultivated in 1000 diverse conditions.
This labeled data has the potential to take our ability to predict how microbes will behave to the next level!
@alignbio.bsky.social is aiming to gather a core dataset composed of phenotypes for 1000 diverse microbes cultivated in 1000 diverse conditions.
This labeled data has the potential to take our ability to predict how microbes will behave to the next level!
March 13, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Time for a LOT of microbe data! 📊 🦠 🤖
@alignbio.bsky.social is aiming to gather a core dataset composed of phenotypes for 1000 diverse microbes cultivated in 1000 diverse conditions.
This labeled data has the potential to take our ability to predict how microbes will behave to the next level!
@alignbio.bsky.social is aiming to gather a core dataset composed of phenotypes for 1000 diverse microbes cultivated in 1000 diverse conditions.
This labeled data has the potential to take our ability to predict how microbes will behave to the next level!
Government funding mechanisms for science need to evolve in the age of AI. 🤖 💰
How? Check out our Day One memo on how to repurpose 'Center' grants to fund large dataset acquisition.
How? Check out our Day One memo on how to repurpose 'Center' grants to fund large dataset acquisition.
🚀 Collaborative, AI-Ready datasets would revolutionize life sciences and catalyze progress. Government funding plays a critical role in making this a reality.
📖 Read our policy memo here:
📖 Read our policy memo here:
Kickstarting Collaborative, AI-Ready Datasets in the Life Sciences
The government should fund collaborative roadmapping, certification, collection, and sharing of large, high-quality datasets in life science.
buff.ly
January 9, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Government funding mechanisms for science need to evolve in the age of AI. 🤖 💰
How? Check out our Day One memo on how to repurpose 'Center' grants to fund large dataset acquisition.
How? Check out our Day One memo on how to repurpose 'Center' grants to fund large dataset acquisition.
🎄 @alignbio.bsky.social is hiring! Join The Align Foundation as the Chief of Staff or Open Science Admin and help make life science reproducible, scalable, shareable.
📍 Remote-friendly roles
🗓 Apply now, aiming to hire by Feb 2025
📧 Email cover letter + resume to contact@alignbio.org
📍 Remote-friendly roles
🗓 Apply now, aiming to hire by Feb 2025
📧 Email cover letter + resume to contact@alignbio.org
December 23, 2024 at 8:11 PM
🎄 @alignbio.bsky.social is hiring! Join The Align Foundation as the Chief of Staff or Open Science Admin and help make life science reproducible, scalable, shareable.
📍 Remote-friendly roles
🗓 Apply now, aiming to hire by Feb 2025
📧 Email cover letter + resume to contact@alignbio.org
📍 Remote-friendly roles
🗓 Apply now, aiming to hire by Feb 2025
📧 Email cover letter + resume to contact@alignbio.org
Reposted by Erika DeBenedictis
•Switched gears to @erika-alden.bsky.social and Align to Innovate!!
•she also switched gears from mathematical sims in astrophysics to biology and later on proteins ;)
•mission: “interface of biology, automation, and machine learning to rapidly convert the life sciences to a data-first discipline”
•she also switched gears from mathematical sims in astrophysics to biology and later on proteins ;)
•mission: “interface of biology, automation, and machine learning to rapidly convert the life sciences to a data-first discipline”
December 16, 2024 at 3:33 AM
•Switched gears to @erika-alden.bsky.social and Align to Innovate!!
•she also switched gears from mathematical sims in astrophysics to biology and later on proteins ;)
•mission: “interface of biology, automation, and machine learning to rapidly convert the life sciences to a data-first discipline”
•she also switched gears from mathematical sims in astrophysics to biology and later on proteins ;)
•mission: “interface of biology, automation, and machine learning to rapidly convert the life sciences to a data-first discipline”
Had a lot of fun with this interview with @agapakis.com. If you don’t know Christina, she is the one who resurrected an extinct flower scent during her time at Ginkgo. 🌸 Who better to talk about the big questions - like WHY we do science!
Was so fun to talk with @asterainstitute.bsky.social resident and @pioneerlabs.bsky.social founder @erika-alden.bsky.social! Read our convo if you want to be inspired about the future of life, bioengineering, and engineered life on Mars
asterainstitute.substack.com/p/lets-go-do...
asterainstitute.substack.com/p/lets-go-do...
"Let's go do that"
A conversation with Astera resident Erika Alden DeBenedictis
asterainstitute.substack.com
December 13, 2024 at 3:48 PM
Had a lot of fun with this interview with @agapakis.com. If you don’t know Christina, she is the one who resurrected an extinct flower scent during her time at Ginkgo. 🌸 Who better to talk about the big questions - like WHY we do science!
The first astronauts on Mars will use bacteria to make food, therapeutics & building materials.
What do you feed the 🦠? Here's the recipe:
- 40g of Mars dirt
- 1 liter of water
- Mix and strain
In our substack post, Pioneer Labs defines how to mimic this recipe on Earth. 🚀🌼
What do you feed the 🦠? Here's the recipe:
- 40g of Mars dirt
- 1 liter of water
- Mix and strain
In our substack post, Pioneer Labs defines how to mimic this recipe on Earth. 🚀🌼
December 10, 2024 at 5:28 PM
The first astronauts on Mars will use bacteria to make food, therapeutics & building materials.
What do you feed the 🦠? Here's the recipe:
- 40g of Mars dirt
- 1 liter of water
- Mix and strain
In our substack post, Pioneer Labs defines how to mimic this recipe on Earth. 🚀🌼
What do you feed the 🦠? Here's the recipe:
- 40g of Mars dirt
- 1 liter of water
- Mix and strain
In our substack post, Pioneer Labs defines how to mimic this recipe on Earth. 🚀🌼
The next Alphafold2 will be a predictive model of protein expression. I think it's possible, and @alignbio.bsky.social is going for it! 🧬
Every single protein engineering project I have ever worked on at one point or another ran into expression issues. 😠 It can't come soon enough! 🙏
Every single protein engineering project I have ever worked on at one point or another ran into expression issues. 😠 It can't come soon enough! 🙏
🚀 News from Align! Today, we're sharing our proposal for building a predictive model of protein expression. Check it out here! ➡️ https://buff.ly/3OqtPZf ⬅️
🌍✨#ProteinExpression #Bioengineering #Collaboration #MachineLearning #DataScience #AlignToInnovate
🌍✨#ProteinExpression #Bioengineering #Collaboration #MachineLearning #DataScience #AlignToInnovate
December 3, 2024 at 4:54 PM
The next Alphafold2 will be a predictive model of protein expression. I think it's possible, and @alignbio.bsky.social is going for it! 🧬
Every single protein engineering project I have ever worked on at one point or another ran into expression issues. 😠 It can't come soon enough! 🙏
Every single protein engineering project I have ever worked on at one point or another ran into expression issues. 😠 It can't come soon enough! 🙏
E11 Bio making *headway* on brain mapping... 🧠😜
🧪 E11 Bio is excited to share a major step towards brain mapping at 100x lower cost, making whole-brain connectomics at human & mouse scale feasible (🧠→🔬→💻). Critical for curing brain disorders, building human-like AI systems, and even simulating human brains.
Read more: e11.bio/news/roadmap
Read more: e11.bio/news/roadmap
December 3, 2024 at 4:00 PM
E11 Bio making *headway* on brain mapping... 🧠😜
Reposted by Erika DeBenedictis
Started as Head of Data at Align to Innovate today! I am thrilled to join this team and be part of their mission!
www.alignbio.org
www.alignbio.org
November 18, 2024 at 9:19 PM
Started as Head of Data at Align to Innovate today! I am thrilled to join this team and be part of their mission!
www.alignbio.org
www.alignbio.org
Reposted by Erika DeBenedictis
In our most recent post we describe fragmenting a halophilic genome 🔪, building functional libraries 🪡 and selecting them 🤼 to find genes that measurably 📏 improved salt tolerance🛠🧂! Lab notebook links once more included if you want to dive into the details! open.substack.com/pub/pioneerl...
The first turn of our engineering crank 🛠🧂
Beyond deletions: additive strain engineering and adaptation
open.substack.com
November 20, 2024 at 12:32 AM
In our most recent post we describe fragmenting a halophilic genome 🔪, building functional libraries 🪡 and selecting them 🤼 to find genes that measurably 📏 improved salt tolerance🛠🧂! Lab notebook links once more included if you want to dive into the details! open.substack.com/pub/pioneerl...
Reposted by Erika DeBenedictis
The next few years will see a huge transformation in how science works, on par with the enlightenment.
FutureHouse is building AIs that can automate science and put the resulting knowledge into the open.
Conversation with Freethink, now online here: www.freethink.com/artificial-i...
FutureHouse is building AIs that can automate science and put the resulting knowledge into the open.
Conversation with Freethink, now online here: www.freethink.com/artificial-i...
Can we automate science? Sam Rodriques is already doing it.
People need to anticipate the revolution that’s coming in how humans and AI will collaborate to create discoveries, argues Sam Rodrigues.
www.freethink.com
November 19, 2024 at 1:30 AM
The next few years will see a huge transformation in how science works, on par with the enlightenment.
FutureHouse is building AIs that can automate science and put the resulting knowledge into the open.
Conversation with Freethink, now online here: www.freethink.com/artificial-i...
FutureHouse is building AIs that can automate science and put the resulting knowledge into the open.
Conversation with Freethink, now online here: www.freethink.com/artificial-i...