THE NEXT HUB FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY. THE U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMISSION ON EMERGING BIOTECHNOLOGY IS VISITING PITTSBURGH TO TALK ABOUT HOW BIOTECHNOLOGY AND AI WILL PLAY A ROLE IN THE CITY. CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS GIVE US AN EXAMPLE ON HOW AI IS USED EVERY DAY IN RESEARCH, SO STUDENTS CAN LEARN MORE FASTER. WE’RE USING THE AI TO HELP US FIGURE OUT WHICH CANDIDATES WE SHOULD TEST IN ORDER TO LEARN THE MOST. FOR EVERY EXPERIMENT THAT WE DO. DA LI IS A CARNEGIE MELLON PHD STUDENT AND THE CEO OF WELEX. HIS COMPANY USES AI AS A COMMUNICATIONS TOOL. YOU CAN SEE THE ROBOT THAT UNDERSTANDS THE USER’S INTENT LANGUAGE THEN EXECUTES A PLAN. IT’S NOT JUST A ROBOTIC COMPANY. WE ARE BUILDING AN AI POWERED ROBOTIC SCIENTIST. SO WHAT WE ARE COMBINING IS THE EXPERTISE, NOT JUST BIOLOGY, BUT ALSO THE ROBOTICS AND AI. HE SAYS HUMANS ARE STILL NEEDED FOR CREATIVITY, WHICH WILL ENSURE JOB SECURITY WITH NEW AI BASED JOBS. THE ROBOTS HELP RUN EXPERIMENTS TO HELP WITH CULTURING CELLS, MAKING EXPERIMENTS MORE CONSISTENT. SO IT’S THE FOUNDATION MODEL FOR ALMOST ALL THE LIFE SCIENCE RESEARCH. WHETHER YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT CANCER RESEARCH, CELL THERAPY, GENE THERAPY, DRUG DISCOVERY, EVERYTHING STARTS WITH CELLS. CHRIS MURPHY’S COMPANY, ELEVATE BIO, WORKS ON WAYS TO TREAT DISEASES LIKE CANCER. PITTSBURGH’S ACTION NEWS FOUR GOT A TOUR OF ELEVATE BIO INSIDE THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH BUILDING IN HAZELWOOD. THE BIOTECH PLANT SITS ON THE SITE OF AN OLD STEEL MILL SHOWING THE EVOLUTION OF THE INDUSTRY AND THE AREA. THE COMPANY TAKES GENETIC MEDICINES AND ACCELERATES THEIR DEVELOPMENT TO MAKE THEM READY TO TREAT DISEASES. USING GENERATIVE AI. SO EFFECTIVELY, WHAT IT DOES IS IT SPEEDS UP MANY WEEKS AND MONTHS OF DISCOVERY RESEARCH TIME TO CREATE THOSE NEW TARGETS, AND THEN WE CAN BRING THOSE TARGETS HERE TO PITTSBURGH, WHERE WE CAN ACTUALLY MANUFACTURE THE PRODUCTS FOR USE IN CLINICAL TRIALS AND EVENTUALLY COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS. NOW, NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEADERS ARE HOPING THAT THIS VISIT WILL CREATE MORE INVESTMENT I

The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology is visiting Pittsburgh to talk about how biotechnology and artificial intelligence will play a role in the city.Carnegie Mellon University professors are demonstrating the use of AI in everyday research to enhance student learning.”We are using the AI to help us figure out which candidates we should test in order to learn the most for every experiment that we do,” said Rebecca Taylor, a professor at CMU.Bingda Li, a Carnegie Mellon PhD student and CEO of Whelix, is using AI as a communications tool, developing an AI-powered robotic scientist that merges biology, robotics and AI expertise.”It’s not just a robotic company. We are building an AI-powered robotic scientist, so what we are combining is the expertise, not just the biology but also the robotics and AI,” said Li.Li noted that human creativity remains essential for job security, even as AI-based jobs emerge. The robots assist in running experiments, particularly in cell culturing, to enhance consistency.”The cell is the foundation model for almost all the life science research. Whether you talk about cancer research, cell therapy, gene therapy, drug discovery, everything starts with cells,” said Li.Chris Murphy, CEO of ElevateBio, is focused on developing treatments for diseases like cancer. Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 toured ElevateBio’s facility at the University of Pittsburgh building in Hazelwood, located on the site of a former steel mill.The company uses generative AI to accelerate the development of genetic medicines, making them ready for clinical trials and commercial use.”Effectively what it does is it speeds up many weeks and months of discovery research time to create those new targets, and then we can bring those targets here to Pittsburgh, where we can actually manufacture the products for use in clinical trials and eventually commercial products,” Murphy said.

PITTSBURGH —

The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology is visiting Pittsburgh to talk about how biotechnology and artificial intelligence will play a role in the city.

Carnegie Mellon University professors are demonstrating the use of AI in everyday research to enhance student learning.

“We are using the AI to help us figure out which candidates we should test in order to learn the most for every experiment that we do,” said Rebecca Taylor, a professor at CMU.

Bingda Li, a Carnegie Mellon PhD student and CEO of Whelix, is using AI as a communications tool, developing an AI-powered robotic scientist that merges biology, robotics and AI expertise.

“It’s not just a robotic company. We are building an AI-powered robotic scientist, so what we are combining is the expertise, not just the biology but also the robotics and AI,” said Li.

Li noted that human creativity remains essential for job security, even as AI-based jobs emerge. The robots assist in running experiments, particularly in cell culturing, to enhance consistency.

“The cell is the foundation model for almost all the life science research. Whether you talk about cancer research, cell therapy, gene therapy, drug discovery, everything starts with cells,” said Li.

Chris Murphy, CEO of ElevateBio, is focused on developing treatments for diseases like cancer. Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 toured ElevateBio’s facility at the University of Pittsburgh building in Hazelwood, located on the site of a former steel mill.

The company uses generative AI to accelerate the development of genetic medicines, making them ready for clinical trials and commercial use.

“Effectively what it does is it speeds up many weeks and months of discovery research time to create those new targets, and then we can bring those targets here to Pittsburgh, where we can actually manufacture the products for use in clinical trials and eventually commercial products,” Murphy said.