Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
During last month’s NeurIPS 2025 conference, YC’s Ankit Gupta sat down with Ellen Zhong, an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton, to discuss how machine learning is reshaping structural biology. They explore how proteins aren’t static structures but dynamic molecular machines, and how techniques like cryo-electron microscopy combined with ML are revealing protein motion beyond traditional structure prediction. The conversation also dives into inverse problems, noisy experimental data, and what’s next for AI-driven scientific discovery.
Chapters
00:11 — Introduction
00:55 — From Supercomputers to Cryo-EM
02:43 — The Rise of Cryo-EM
03:30 — Proteins as Dynamic Systems
04:30 — Inverse Problems in Biology
05:31 — Lessons from DeepMind, Industry and Academia
07:35 — Why Protein Dynamics Remain Unsolved
08:29 — Collaborating with Experimental Scientists
09:28 — What’s Overhyped and Underhyped in AI-Driven Biology
10:51 — The Future of AI-Driven Biology
Apply to Y Combinator: ycombinator.com/apply
Work at a startup: ycombinator.com/jobs
During last month’s NeurIPS 2025 conference, YC’s Ankit Gupta sat down with Ellen Zhong, an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton, to discuss how machine learning is reshaping structural biology. They explore how proteins aren’t static structures but dynamic molecular machines, and how techniques like cryo-electron microscopy combined with ML are revealing protein motion beyond traditional structure prediction. The conversation also dives into inverse problems, noisy experimental data, and what’s next for AI-driven scientific discovery.
Chapters
00:11 — Introduction
00:55 — From Supercomputers to Cryo-EM
02:43 — The Rise of Cryo-EM
03:30 — Proteins as Dynamic Systems
04:30 — Inverse Problems in Biology
05:31 — Lessons from DeepMind, Industry and Academia
07:35 — Why Protein Dynamics Remain Unsolved
08:29 — Collaborating with Experimental Scientists
09:28 — What’s Overhyped and Underhyped in AI-Driven Biology
10:51 — The Future of AI-Driven Biology
Apply to Y Combinator: ycombinator.com/apply
Work at a startup: ycombinator.com/jobs
