MIA 10-Year Anniversary Celebration
ӳý (MIA co-founder and co-chair)
University of Toronto
Generate:Biomedicines
Genentech
Watch: at ӳý.
Watch:
Celebrate MIA, reflecting on its past, present, and future. Please note that this celebration will be held at the ӳý at 300 Binney St. (conference room 2110 - Charles).
9:30 - 10:00 am: Welcome, breakfast
10:00 - 11:00 am: Panel discussion
11:00 - 11:30 am: Lightning talks, networking
Panelists:
Alex Bloemendal - ӳý (co-founder and co-chair of MIA)
Aleksandrina Goeva - University of Toronto
Gevorg Grigoryan - Generate:Biomedicines
Aviv Regev - Genentech
Learn more about the panelists:
Alex Bloemendal, Ph.D.
ӳý
Senior Machine Learning Scientist, Institute Scientist
Co-founder and co-chair of MIA
Alex Bloemendal is a senior machine learning scientist and institute scientist at the ӳý of MIT and Harvard. Joining the Translational Genomics Group in the Program for Medical and Population Genetics from the Data Sciences Platform, he leads and advises interdisciplinary and external collaborations that bring state-of-the-art computational tools to bear on the problems of translational genomics and genomic medicine, especially the diagnosis of rare disease. Previously, as a member of the Neale and Lander Labs, Bloemendal helped develop methods for analyzing human genetic and other large-scale biological data toward a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying common and complex disease, initially co-founding the Hail project for scalable genomic analysis. Bloemendal also co-founded and co-chaired the ӳý’s Models, Inference & Algorithms initiative, a widely attended seminar series and community to foster learning and collaboration across the interface of biology and medicine with mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and computer science.
Bloemendal was previously a Simons Fellow in the Department of Mathematics and a research scientist in the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University. His research in probability and random matrix theory focused on questions around signal and noise in high-dimensional data; he proved a conjecture with wide-reaching applications in fields including population genetics. Bloemendal also earned a teaching award for an advanced course on probability.
Bloemendal received an Hon. B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Toronto.
Aleksandrina Goeva, Ph.D.
University of Toronto, Dept. of Molecular Genetics
Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator
Research interests: Machine Learning, Neuroscience, Single-Cell Transcriptomics, Spatial Transcriptomics, Statistics
Boston University, PhD in Mathematics and Statistics, 2017
Sofia University, BS in Applied Mathematics, 2011.
Gevorg Grigoryan, Ph.D.
Generate:Biomedicines
Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer
Co-founder and co-chair of MIA
Since co-founding Generate:Biomedicines, Gevorg Grigoryan, PhD, has served as Chief Technology Officer, playing a foundational role in establishing the company’s scientific vision and technological backbone. As an architect of The Generate Platform™, Gevorg has led the integration of machine learning and protein science to enable the on-demand generation of novel therapeutics across a wide range of biologic modalities. Under his scientific leadership, Generate:Biomedicines has advanced a growing pipeline of preclinical programs and clinical assets, all rooted in a generative approach to biology.
Prior to founding Generate:Biomedicines, Gevorg was a tenured professor at Dartmouth College, where his interdisciplinary research across computer science, chemistry, biology, and physics contributed major insights into the principles of protein structure and function. His academic work was instrumental in demonstrating the feasibility of generative design and continues to inform the scientific direction of the company.
Gevorg has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications in top-tier journals including Nature, Science, and PNAS. His research has earned recognition from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the American Cancer Society. He holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and dual bachelor’s degrees in Biochemistry and Computer Science.
In his role at Generate:Biomedicines, Gevorg remains focused on driving innovation at the intersection of computation and biology and enjoys working with brilliant scientists on some of the toughest challenges in molecular and therapeutic science.
Aviv Regev, Ph.D.
Genentech and Early Development
Head, Executive Vice President
Member of the ӳý's Board of Directors
Aviv Regev is head of Genentech and Early Development. Formerly, Regev was chair of the faculty and core member at the ӳý of MIT and Harvard, professor of biology at MIT, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.
She is founding co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas and a leader in deciphering molecular circuits that govern cells, tissues, and organs in health and their malfunction in disease. She has pioneered foundational experimental and computational methods in single-cell genomics, enabling greater understanding of cell and tissue functions.
Regev is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the International Society of Computational Biology. Her many honors include the ISCB Overton and Innovator Prizes, Paul Marks Prize, Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, Keio Medical Science Prize, HFSP Nakasone Award, and L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award.