Throughout the fourth season of Theory and Practice, we explored emerging human-like artificial intelligence and robots. We asked if we could learn as much about ourselves as we do about the machines we use. The series has covered safety guardrails for AI, empathic AI communication , communication between minds and machines , robotic surgery , computers that smell , and using AI to understand human vision . The most recent episode with Google DeepMind's Dr. Clément Farabet illuminates how comput...
Sep 20, 2023•27 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In this season of Theory and Practice, we explore newly emerging human-like artificial intelligence and robots — and how we can learn as much about ourselves, as humans, as we do about the machines we use. As we near the end of Season 4, we explore whether decision-making and judgment are still the final preserve of humans. Our guest for Episode 7 is Dr. Clément Farabet , VP of Research at Google DeepMind . For the past 15 years, Dr. Farabet’s work has been guided by a central mission: figuring ...
Sep 13, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Season 4 of our Theory and Practice podcast investigates the powerful new world of AI applications and what it means to be human in the age of human-like artificial intelligence. Episode 6 explores what happens when AI is explicitly used to understand humans. In this episode, we're joined by James DiCarlo, the Peter de Florez Professor of Neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Director of the MIT Quest for Intelligence. Trained in biomedical engineering and medicine, Professor...
Sep 06, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 6
On Season 4 of Theory and Practice, Anthony Philippakis and Alex Wiltschko explore newly emerging human-like artificial intelligence and robots — and how we can learn as much about ourselves, as humans, as we do about the machines we use. The series has delved into many aspects of AI, from safety guardrails to empathic communication to robotic surgery and how computers can make decisions. In episode 5, we explore how machine learning helped create a map of odor and how that technology will train...
Aug 31, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In Season 4 of the Theory and Practice podcast, we’ve been investigating the powerful new world of AI applications. We’ve explored how to build safety guardrails into AI-driven healthcare, what the future holds for empathetic AI communication, and how humans can control computers with imperceptible movements of their hands. For episode 4, we turn to surgical robots with the help of Dr. Catherine Mohr, President of the Intuitive Foundation, who played an integral role in developing the DaVinci su...
Aug 23, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 4
On Season 4 of Theory and Practice, Anthony Philippakis and Alex Wiltschko explore newly emerging human-like artificial intelligence and robots — and how we can learn as much about ourselves, as humans, as we do about the machines we use. The series will delve into many aspects of AI: from communication to robotic surgery and decision-making. In episode 3, we explore how humans will control computers in the future with Dr. Thomas Reardon. Dr. Reardon founded CTRL-Labs and is an early pioneer in ...
Aug 16, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 3
On Season 4 of the Theory and Practice podcast, GV’s Anthony Philippakis and Osmo’s Alex Wiltschko explore being human in the age of AI. Guests this season dive into areas including AI communication, robotic surgery, and decision-making. Episode 2 explores how machine learning evolved to where it is today. Anthony and Alex’s guest is Dr. Claire Cui, a computer scientist from Google DeepMind. They discuss the underlying architecture of LLMs, how self-supervising algorithms work, and the technolog...
Aug 09, 2023•47 min•Season 4Ep. 2
On Season 4 of the Theory and Practice podcast, hosts Anthony Philippakis and Alex Wiltschko explore the many aspects of what it means to be human in the new era of artificial intelligence: from communication to robotic surgery and decision-making. In episode 1, Dr. Greg Corrado, Distinguished Scientist and Head of Health AI at Google Health, explains how to responsibly introduce AI into healthcare. AI has proven itself in detecting diabetic eye disease, managing the risk of cardiovascular disea...
Aug 02, 2023•42 min•Season 4Ep. 1
For millennia, humans have believed that aging is inevitable. Yet thirty years ago, the work of Professor Cynthia Kenyon and her colleagues showed that a single gene mutation in a worm doubled its lifespan and postponed the diseases of aging. Recent work on the naked mole rat, a mammal like us, has shown that risk of death need not increase with age. In the final episode of this season of Theory and Practice, we explore the genetic, cellular, and molecular basis of aging with Professor Kenyon an...
Apr 19, 2022•49 min•Season 3Ep. 7
What is a thought? Some may think that question is quite abstract, but it has huge implications for science and computer design. If we cannot define a human thought, how can we know if a computer can think? Only then can true Artificial Intelligence be achieved. This week we speak to the “godfather of deep learning”, Professor Geoffrey Hinton , a cognitive psychologist and computer scientist. He is now an emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto, and an engineering fellow at Google. Our w...
Apr 12, 2022•50 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Psychiatry is changing and will be unrecognizable in the next 10-20 years, given our new understanding about the role of brain circuits in the generation of emotions and behavior. This week we talk to Professor Karl Deisseroth, D.H. Chen Professor of Bioengineering and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. We discuss his work on optogenetics and the insights it has given into the workings of the human brain. Professor Deisseroth als...
Apr 05, 2022•43 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Using machine learning to predict how a protein folds helps solve a riddle in biology. But it is just the start. These algorithms open up new opportunities to explore the physiological processes that have eluded research, adapt and create proteins for therapeutic purposes, and even power nano-molecular machines. This week we speak with Professor David Baker about the enormous scope for making new proteins and how that translates into practical uses to tackle diseases, such as Covid-19. We also d...
Mar 29, 2022•44 min•Season 3Ep. 4
In the last 20 years or so, many new cancer treatments have emerged that provide greater precision and targeting of cancer cells. Today, we have a better understanding of the genetic components of cancer. Through novel technology and cutting-edge science, we’re now able to understand how the accumulation of molecular alterations in the genome leads to the coding of proteins that can promote uncontrolled cell division. New treatments are emerging at the genetic and molecular level, along with nov...
Mar 22, 2022•46 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Gene editing is the process by which alterations are made to DNA. There are three major challenges: make precise edits at a chosen site, make edits that do not result in subsequent mutations, and have an editing process flexible enough to address the mutations which cause human disease. This week we talk to Professor David Liu of Harvard University’s Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology . They discuss the progress that has been made to overcome these challenges, following the development...
Mar 15, 2022•42 min•Season 3Ep. 2
For the third season of Theory and Practice , we wanted to ask: what lies ahead for the intersection of life sciences and data sciences in the next ten years? In this episode, we explore the vastness of the "dark genome" and why "junk DNA" has been overlooked for so many decades. Our guest is Dr. Rosana Kapeller-Lieberman , A GV Fellow and the CEO of Rome Therapeutics with over 25 years’ experience in science and therapeutics. Rosana discusses her team's scientific approach, and how they have ta...
Mar 08, 2022•47 min•Season 3Ep. 1
We first shared Julia's daughter's story a few weeks ago in our interview with Dr Timothy Yu about the first "N of 1" drug trial. Tim recounted the journey in developing her treatment, and the intellectual and operational challenges that he faced in order to find a therapy and get it approved. Today we hear Julia's perspective, as a parent who desperately looked for ways to help her child, Mila. All too often in these cases, there are no readily available therapies, and most patients don't have ...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Season 2Ep. 10
It's rare to meet a true visionary, someone who sees where the world can go before anyone else sees it. And it's even rarer to meet someone who not only recognizes the opportunity, but also has the conviction and energy to make it a reality. For us, the person who most exemplifies these characteristics is Dr. Aviv Regev , who leads Genentech's Research and Early Development (gRED) team. Human genetics has had a transformative impact on drug development. Single cell genomics is at a similar place...
Jun 03, 2021•47 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Physicians make very big decisions in people's lives. Whether or not to put in a heart valve, whether to do a stent or surgery, what chemotherapy to dose. We often make these big decisions with very little data for decision support. This has to change. As we discuss in this episode, the future of medicine will involve advanced machine learning to improve clinical decision making, and better ways to match patients to personalized therapies. Dr. Amy Abernethy is an oncologist, specialist in pallia...
May 27, 2021•53 min•Season 2Ep. 8
David Altshuler is Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. I first met David when I was a medical student, and I spent my last year of my MD-PhD working in his lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. At the time, a new type of DNA sequencer ( Solexa , soon to be acquired by Illumina ) had just arrived at the Broad , and I raised my hand to be one of the people in his lab to get it up and running. At the time, most of David's lab was workin...
May 20, 2021•43 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Every so often, someone comes up with a new idea that is truly visionary. The first time you see it, you may not immediately appreciate how transformational it might become. As an attending physician in Boston Children's Hospital's Division of Genetics and Genomics , Tim was caring for a young patient with a devastating genetic mutation. He suspected her condition could be treated with an adaptation of an existing class of therapies, and he also knew that she was likely the only person in the wo...
May 13, 2021•52 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Krishna Yeshwant is Managing Partner at GV , and a practicing physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Krishna embodies this mix of being both an intellectual and a business person. Most of his investments are at the intersection of life sciences and data sciences, like Flatiron Health , Foundation Medicine , EQRx , and Imagen . He's interested in finding companies at that interface. You'll hear him talk about starting his first company, making the mistake of hiring his friends, and ...
May 06, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Theory and Practice speaks with Dr. Caroline Uhler , currently the Henry L. and Grace Doherty associate professor in EECS (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) and IDSS (Institute for Data, Systems and Society) at MIT, and associate member of the Broad Institute where she is co-director of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center. Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI . Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with ...
Apr 29, 2021•45 min•Season 2Ep. 4
This week on Theory and Practice, we speak with Jennifer Listgarten , a professor in UC Berkeley's Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences department and the Center for Computational Biology . Before Jennifer joined UC Berkeley she spent ten years at Microsoft, working in the New England Research Lab . Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI . Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Prac...
Apr 22, 2021•48 min•Season 2Ep. 3
We speak with Professor Sir Rory Collins , Head of Nuffield Department of Population Health at Oxford University and BHF (British Heart Foundation) Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology. Professor Collins is also Principal Investigator and Chief Executive of the UK Biobank . Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI . Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutt...
Apr 15, 2021•39 min•Season 2Ep. 2
On this season of Theory and Practice we explore one of the art of being a great biologist – marrying a problem to a solution, choosing the right biological question, and pairing it with the right technology. Dr. Anne Carpenter is the inventor of CellProfiler and designed a method for coloring and analyzing cells. She works at the Broad Institute as the Senior Director of the Imaging Platform and is an Institute Scientist. One of the things that strikes me about Anne's work is how visionary it i...
Apr 08, 2021•41 min•Season 2Ep. 1
The hosts interview a panel of distinguished guests, including life sciences entrepreneur and investor Alexis Borisy, Finale Doshi-Velez of Harvard University's John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Pardis Sabeti of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Mar 04, 2020•39 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Zach Weinberg is the co-founder, president, and COO of Flatiron Health. He discusses his entrepreneurial journey and Flatiron Health's approach to accelerating cancer care and improving patient outcomes.
Feb 19, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Cori Bargmann is the head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. She is also the head of the Lulu and Anthony Wang Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior and the Torsten N. Wiesel Professor at The Rockefeller University in New York. She joins the podcast to discuss advancing science on a larger scale.
Feb 05, 2020•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 9
Professor Daphne Koller is the CEO and founder of insitro. She joins the podcast to discuss how machine learning and biology can advance drug discovery and patient care.
Jan 22, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 8
David Sontag, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, explores how artificial intelligence can transform medicine, and discusses the importance of fairness in machine learning. Episode notes on research attribution: Steven Horng Yoni Halpern Rahul Krishnan Fredrik Johansson Uri Shalit Irene Chen...
Jan 08, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 7
