We are a frontier artificial-intelligence laboratory, established for a single purpose: to build an AI capable of original discovery. We are establishing an inaugural fellowship — a small, carefully chosen cohort of biologists, bioengineers, and life scientists — to wield this instrument against the most important unsolved problems in their field.
Begin your applicationWe have demonstrated its power on a small number of problems. The purpose of this fellowship is to establish how far that power extends — across biology and the life sciences, from molecular, cellular, and structural biology to genomics and immunology; from synthetic and engineering biology to biomanufacturing and bioprocessing; and from drug discovery — across small molecules, biologics, nucleic-acid, and cell and gene therapies — to diagnostics, longevity, and the engineering of living systems. Whatever your field, if it holds a hard and unsolved problem, it belongs here.
As a Fellow, you will pursue the significant, unsolved problems in your field that matter most to you — one, or several — and carry each from formulation to result: defining it, pursuing it on our discovery engine, validating your findings, and publishing them as lead author. Because the instrument compresses the cycle of discovery, some problems will yield quickly while others occupy you for much of the year; the pace, and the portfolio, are yours to set. You will direct your own research agenda, exercising your expert judgment on questions where the right course is not given in advance. You will have access to collegial mentorship, alongside a cross-disciplinary cohort of comparable ambition. Few are present, in any era, at the founding of a new instrument of discovery. You would belong to the first generation to discover with one — and your work would bear that distinction.
A sample of the sub-fields in play — far from all of them:
If you hold a hard, unsolved problem in biology and the life sciences — named here or not — it belongs here. This fellowship is defined by the problem, not the list.
We ask you to put forward the problems you most want to solve and to make the case for each. A strong proposal answers two questions of every problem it names. First: what is the problem, and why has the field been unable to solve it? Second: what becomes possible once it is solved?
We give clear preference to problems whose solution would transform their field and carry profound societal consequences. We are drawn, too, to problems whose answers can be proven rather than merely argued — where a result can be put to the test of reality and settled in weeks to months, not years, and where the means to do so have only now come within reach. Bring forward the problems you believe are worthy of your year.
Please submit your CV with a proposal of no more than one page: the problem you would begin with — and any others you intend to pursue — why each has resisted solution, and what its solution would make possible. This constitutes the initial application. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
Thank you. We review applications on a rolling basis and will be in touch.
By submitting a proposal to the Research Fellowship (the “Program”), the entrant (“Applicant”) acknowledges that they have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Submission Rules (the “Rules”). The Program is sponsored and administered by a privately held Delaware corporation whose identity is currently confidential (the “Company”); the Company’s legal name will be disclosed to Applicants selected to advance in the process and in all offer and employment documentation. These Rules govern participation in the Program. The Company reserves the right to modify, suspend, or terminate the Program or these Rules at any time, subject to applicable law.
We urge you to carefully read the terms and conditions of these Rules and all policies referenced herein or elsewhere on the website on which these Rules are posted (the “Site”), which are incorporated herein by reference and form part of these Rules. While all eligible proposals will be reviewed, submission of a proposal does not obligate the Company to review or consider such proposal in the Program or for any other purpose.
Selected Applicants will be offered a full-time, salaried fellowship appointment to pursue the proposed research alongside the Company’s team, with compensation commensurate with field and experience.
All fellowships are conditioned upon the Applicant entering into the Company’s standard employment and invention assignment and confidentiality agreements, which contain customary terms for the protection of intellectual property and confidential and proprietary information, including with respect to any publication of fellowship work product.
The Company is not responsible for late, lost, or misdirected submissions; technical failures; unauthorized access; or any issues beyond its control. Participation in the Program is at the Applicant’s sole risk.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAWS, IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY BE LIABLE TO AN APPLICANT FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY, PUNITIVE OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, LOSS OF USE, DATA, BUSINESS OR PROFITS, OTHERWISE IN CONNECTION WITH OR ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THESE RULES, SUBMISSION TO OR PARTICIPATION IN THE PROGRAM, HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, BREACH OF STATUTORY DUTY OR OTHERWISE, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS OR DAMAGE. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERALITY OF THE FOREGOING, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMISSIBLE UNDER APPLICABLE LAWS, THE COMPANY’S AGGREGATE LIABILITY TO APPLICANT ARISING FROM ALL CLAIMS UNDER OR RELATED TO THESE RULES OR THE PROGRAM WILL NOT EXCEED $5.00 REGARDLESS OF THE LEGAL OR EQUITABLE THEORY ON WHICH THE CLAIM OR LIABILITY IS BASED, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE COMPANY WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH LOSS OR DAMAGE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO CERTAIN APPLICANTS.
APPLICANT ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT THE LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY IN THIS SECTION ARE AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN THE COMPANY AND THE APPLICANT, AND WILL APPLY EVEN IF THE REMEDIES AVAILABLE HEREUNDER ARE FOUND TO FAIL THEIR ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.
To the maximum extent permissible under applicable laws, Applicant agrees to release, defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Company and its affiliates, and their respective directors, officers, employees, agents, and partners, from any and all claims, injuries, damages, liabilities, losses and expenses of any nature in any way arising in connection with or as a result of Applicant’s submission to or participation in this Program or breach of these Rules, any condition caused by events beyond the Company’s control that may cause the Program to be disrupted or corrupted, and any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the Program. For the avoidance of doubt, this release does not apply to any claims arising out of or related to any subsequent employment relationship between a Selected Applicant and the Company. To the maximum extent permissible under applicable laws, Applicant hereby agrees not to instigate, support, maintain or authorize any action, claim or lawsuit against the Company or its affiliates on the grounds that any use of the Submission Materials infringes any of Applicant’s rights, including, without limitation, patent rights, trade secret rights, copyrights and moral rights.
Applicant consents to the use of their name, institution, likeness, and proposal summary for promotional and informational purposes related to the Company’s scientific initiatives and business purposes, without additional compensation, except where prohibited by law.
Applicant will comply with all applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. Applicant represents and warrants that Applicant has the authority, as sole owner of the content of Applicant’s submission, to provide it to the Company, and that such content and any other materials or information provided by it in connection with the Program (“Submission Materials”) are the Applicant’s original work, do not infringe, violate or misappropriate any intellectual or other property right of any person or entity, including any patent or trade secret, and comply with all laws, regulations and ordinances, and that the provision of the Submission Materials and use thereof by the Company in connection with the Program do not violate any contractual obligations of Applicant to any third party.
Applicant grants the Company and its affiliates the right to use all or a portion of the Submission Materials in connection with the Program. Applicant acknowledges that the Company or its affiliates may currently or in the future be developing information internally, or receiving information from other parties, that is similar to Submission Materials. Nothing in these Rules will be construed as a representation or agreement that the Company or its affiliates will not develop or have developed products, methods, concepts, systems or techniques that are similar to or compete with the products, methods, concepts, systems or techniques contemplated by or embodied in any Submission Materials.
These Rules are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any principles of conflict of laws that would lead to the application of the laws of another jurisdiction. Any action, suit or case arising out of, or in connection with, the Program or these Rules will be brought exclusively in the federal or state courts located in San Francisco, California, and the parties irrevocably consent to the personal jurisdiction and venue therein.
The Company collects personal data from Applicants for program administration and compliance with privacy and transparency obligations.
The Company is not responsible for transmission errors resulting in omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operations or transmission, theft or destruction or unauthorized access to or alterations of entry materials, or for technical, network, telephone equipment, electronic, computer, hardware or software malfunctions or limitations of any kind, or inaccurate transmissions of or failure to receive entry information by the Company on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website or any combination thereof. The Company is not responsible for injury or damage to any Applicant’s or any other computer resulting from downloading any materials in connection with the Program.
The Company reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate, modify or suspend the Program in whole or in part, if in the Company’s opinion (a) the Program is not capable of running as planned (e.g., failure to receive a sufficient number of entries, unforeseen changes in business conditions, infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, or by reason of the occurrence of any event beyond its control including, but not limited to, fire, flood, epidemic, pandemic, earthquake, explosion, labor dispute or strike, act of God or public enemy, communications or equipment failure, utility or service interruptions, riot or civil disturbance, terrorist threat or activity, war (declared or undeclared), interference with the Program by any party, or any federal, state, local or provincial government law, order, or regulation, order of any court or jurisdiction, or other cause not reasonably within the Company’s control), or (b) any factors beyond the Company’s reasonable control which corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity, or proper conduct of the Program, in all instances without liability to the entrants. The Company shall not be responsible or liable for delays or failure to perform due to events beyond reasonable control, including but not limited to natural disasters, government actions, war, or pandemics.
The Company reserves the right to disqualify any individual found to be tampering with the entry process or the operation of the Program; to be acting in violation of these Rules; or to be acting in a disruptive manner or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten, or harass any other person. The Company also reserves the right to disqualify any Applicant, as determined by the Company, in its sole discretion.
Nothing herein shall constitute an employment, joint venture, or partnership relationship between the Applicant and the Company, except pursuant to the separate employment or contractor engagement agreements referenced in the “Fellowship Information” section above.
No provisions of these Rules are intended or will be construed to confer upon or give to any person or entity, other than Applicant, the Company and its affiliates, any rights, remedies or other benefits under or by reason of these Rules or the Program.