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X-WR-CALNAME:AIcES: AI catalyst for Engineering and Science
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada)
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DTSTAMP:20260521T082047Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_52329379950125
DTSTART:20260327T183000Z
DTEND:20260328T073000Z
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Huimin Zhao\, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign\
 n\nTitle: AI for Synthetic Biology\n\nAbstract: \n\nSynthetic biology aims
  to design novel or improved biological systems using engineering principl
 es\, which has broad applications in medical\, chemical\, food\, and agric
 ultural industries. However\, due to the complexity of biological systems\
 , performing synthetic biology in a quantitative and predictive manner rem
 ains a challenge. In recent years\, thanks to advances in data science\, a
 rtificial intelligence (AI) that allows computers to learn from experience
  has emerged as a potentially powerful tool to address this challenge. In 
 this talk\, I will highlight our recent work on the development of AI tool
 s and an AI-powered self-driving biofoundry to accelerate the design-build
 -test-learn cycle in synthetic biology. Examples include but are not limit
 ed to: (a) ECNet: a deep learning model for protein engineering (Luo et al
 . Nature Communications 2021)\; (b) CLEAN: an AI tool for enzyme function 
 prediction (Yu et al. Science 2023)\; (c) EZSpecificity: an AI tool for en
 zyme substrate specificity prediction (Cui et al. Nature 2025)\; (d) desig
 n of novel mitochondrial targeting sequences using generative AI (Boob et 
 al. Nature Communications 2025)\, and (e) BioAutomata: an AI-powered self-
 driving biofoundry for protein engineering\, pathway engineering\, and met
 abolic engineering (Hamedi et al. Nature Communications 2019\; Singh et al
 . Nature Communications 2025).\n\nBio:\n\nDr. Huimin Zhao is the Steven L.
  Miller Chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University o
 f Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is the director of the NSF AI Insti
 tute for Molecule Synthesis\, NSF iBioFoundry\, and the NSF Global Center 
 for Biofoundry Applications\, and serves as Editor-in-Chief of ACS Synthet
 ic Biology. Dr. Zhao received his B.S. in Biology from the University of S
 cience and Technology of China and his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Califor
 nia Institute of Technology under Nobel Laureate Frances Arnold. Before jo
 ining UIUC in 2000\, he was a project leader at Dow Chemical Company. He h
 as authored over 480 publications\, delivered more than 550 invited lectur
 es\, and mentored many trainees who have gone on to become faculty and pri
 ncipal investigators worldwide. His research focuses on synthetic biology\
 , artificial intelligence\, and laboratory automation for addressing chall
 enges in health\, energy\, and sustainability.
GEO:35.958192;-83.927923
LOCATION:Walters Academic Building\, M307
SUMMARY:AIcES: AI catalyst for Engineering and Science
URL;VALUE=URI:https://calendar.utk.edu/event/aices-ai-catalyst-for-engineer
 ing-and-science-4789
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Presentations
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