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
Harnessing AI for legal practice with CoCounsel’s Jake Heller [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:16
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Jake Heller, Head of Product, CoCounsel, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss how AI is innovating legal practices and reshaping educational approaches for aspiring lawyers. From autom…
Transforming Search with Perplexity AI’s CTO Denis Yarats [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:54
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Denis Yarats, CTO of Perplexity, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the innovative use of AI in creating high-quality, fast search engine answers.Discover how Perplexity combines adv…
AI in electronics: Quilter’s journey in PCB design [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:50
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Sergiy Nesterenko, CEO of Quilter, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the groundbreaking use of reinforcement learning in PCB design. Learn how Quilter automates the complex, manual…
The Future of AI in Coding with Codeium CEO Varun Mohan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:53
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Varun Mohan, Co-Founder & CEO of Codeium, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the transformative power of AI in coding. They explore how Codeium evolved from GPU virtualization to a w…
Shaping AI Benchmarks with Together AI Co-Founder Percy Liang [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:20
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Together AI co-founder and Stanford Associate Professor Percy Liang joins host, Lukas Biewald, to discuss advancements in AI benchmarking and the pivotal role that open-source plays i…
Accelerating drug discovery with AI: Insights from Isomorphic Labs [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:10:23
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Isomorphic Labs Chief AI Officer Max Jaderberg, and Chief Technology Officer Sergei Yakneen join our host Lukas Biewald to discuss the advancements in biotech and drug discovery being…
Redefining AI Hardware for Enterprise with SambaNova’s Rodrigo Liang [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:04
🚀 Discover the cutting-edge AI hardware development for enterprises in this episode of Gradient Dissent, featuring Rodrigo Liang, CEO of SambaNova Systems. Rodrigo Liang’s journey from Oracle to founding SambaNova is a t…
Navigating the Vector Database Landscape with Pinecone's Edo Liberty [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:06:05
🚀 This episode of Gradient Dissent welcomes Edo Liberty, the mind behind Pinecone's revolutionary vector database technology.As a former leader at Amazon AI Labs and Yahoo's New York lab, Edo Liberty's extensive backgrou…