Polly Fordyce — Microfluidic Platforms and Machine Learning

Polly Fordyce — Microfluidic Platforms and Machine Learning

Author: Lukas Biewald April 29, 2021 Duration: 45:55
Polly explains how microfluidics allow bioengineering researchers to create high throughput data, and shares her experiences with biology and machine learning. --- Polly Fordyce is an Assistant Professor of Genetics and Bioengineering and fellow of the ChEM-H Institute at Stanford. She is the Principal Investigator of The Fordyce Lab, which focuses on developing and applying new microfluidic platforms for quantitative, high-throughput biophysics and biochemistry. Twitter: https://twitter.com/fordycelab​ Website: http://www.fordycelab.com/​ --- Topics Discussed: 0:00​ Sneak peek, intro 2:11​ Background on protein sequencing 7:38​ How changes to a protein's sequence alters its structure and function 11:07​ Microfluidics and machine learning 19:25​ Why protein folding is important 25:17​ Collaborating with ML practitioners 31:46​ Transfer learning and big data sets in biology 38:42​ Where Polly hopes bioengineering research will go 42:43​ Advice for students Transcript: http://wandb.me/gd-polly-fordyce​ Links Discussed: "The Weather Makers": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wea...​ --- Get our podcast on these platforms: Apple Podcasts: http://wandb.me/apple-podcasts​​​ Spotify: http://wandb.me/spotify​​ Google Podcasts: http://wandb.me/google-podcasts​​​ YouTube: http://wandb.me/youtube​​​ Soundcloud: http://wandb.me/soundcloud​​ Join our community of ML practitioners where we host AMAs, share interesting projects and meet other people working in Deep Learning: http://wandb.me/slack​​​ Check out Fully Connected, which features curated machine learning reports by researchers exploring deep learning techniques, Kagglers showcasing winning models, industry leaders sharing best practices, and more: https://wandb.ai/fully-connected

Lukas Biewald hosts Gradient Dissent: Conversations on AI, a series that moves beyond theoretical discussions to examine how artificial intelligence is actually built and deployed. Each episode features a direct, unscripted talk with a leading practitioner-you’ll hear from engineers and researchers at places like NVIDIA, Meta, Google, Lyft, and OpenAI. The focus is on the tangible challenges and breakthroughs they encounter, from initial research to the complex reality of putting models into production. This isn't about abstract futures; it's a grounded look at the decisions shaping the field right now. Biewald, bringing his perspective from Weights & Biases, steers conversations toward the practical trade-offs and collaborative efforts that define modern AI work. For anyone in technology or business who wants to understand the mechanics behind the headlines, this podcast offers a rare, candid window into the process. You’ll come away with a clearer sense of how ideas become functional systems and what it really takes to operate at the cutting edge.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Gradient Dissent: Conversations on AI
Podcast Episodes
Evaluating LLMs with Chatbot Arena and Joseph E. Gonzalez [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:32
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Joseph E. Gonzalez, EECS Professor at UC Berkeley and Co-Founder at RunLLM, joins host Lukas Biewald to explore innovative approaches to evaluating LLMs.They discuss the concept of vi…
Snowflake’s CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy on 700+ LLM enterprise use cases [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:42
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy joins host Lukas Biewald to explore how AI is transforming enterprise data strategies.They discuss Sridhar's journey from Google to Snowflake, diving i…
Elevating ML Infrastructure with Modal Labs CEO Erik Bernhardsson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:39
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Erik Bernhardsson, CEO & Founder of Modal Labs, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the future of machine learning infrastructure. They explore how Modal is enhancing the developer ex…
From No-Code to AI-Powered Apps with Airtable’s Howie Liu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:57
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Howie Lou, CEO of Airtable, joins host Lukas Biewald to dive into Airtable's transformation from a no-code app builder to a platform capable of supporting complex AI-driven workflows.…
Reinventing AI Agents with Imbue CEO Kanjun Qiu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:37
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Kanjun Qiu, CEO and Co-founder of Imbue, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss how AI agents are transforming code generation and software development. Discover the potential impact and…
From startup to $1.2B with Lambda’s Stephen Balaban [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:56
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Stephen Balaban, CEO of Lambda Labs, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the journey of scaling Lambda Labs to an impressive $400M in revenue. They explore the pivotal moments that sh…