Theory and Practice

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 huma...

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...

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 D...

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 episo...

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 M...

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 comput...

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...

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 healthcar...

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 a...

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 i...

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 optog...

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...

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 uncont...

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 ....

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’ experienc...

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 ch...

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. Huma...

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 t...

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...

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 ad...

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 compan...

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...

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 G...

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...

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 D...