How Generative AI is revolutionizing protein design

Welcome to the next edition of  Founders & Funders: Climate Conversations!‍

In this series of events, you can join us for afternoons with climate tech specialists, visionary founders, and forward-thinking investors in a relaxed and engaging setting. Each session is designed to foster knowledge sharing, deep conversations, and meaningful connections.

For this edition, we are excited to welcome Elise de Reus, co-founder of Cradle, to explore how Generative AI is revolutionizing the way we design and develop proteins.

Jensen Huang, CEO NVIDIA, thinks the next big revolution will happen in biology. “For the very first time in our history, biology has the opportunity to be engineering, not science.” Investors agree, with over $5 billion invested in AI-driven biotech startups in 2024 alone.

Few area holds as much transformative potential than generative AI for protein engineering.  From enzymes in laundry detergents and sustainable chemicals to new medicines and diagnostics. But designing these complex molecules has traditionally been a slow, expensive, and risky process.

Cradle is changing that. With its AI-powered software platform, Cradle empowers R&D teams to engineer proteins with help from Generative AI, accelerating breakthroughs across biotech. Scientists use Cradle’s software to engineer better biobased products such as chemicals, food, materials, medicines and diagnostics, quicker and more efficiently. Cradle serves many of the largest biotech companies in the world such as Johnson & Johnson, Novo Nordisk, Corteva and IFF. The company has raised ±$100M to date.

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The Expert: Elise de Reus

Join us for a deep dive with Cradle’s co-founder Elise de Reus, who brings a unique perspective from both the lab and the boardroom. Prior to Cradle, Elise worked as a scientist at California-based biotechs Zymergen and Perfect Day, building automated workflows to engineer microbes for the production of biomolecules. Elise holds an MSc from TU Delft and a PhD in fungal synthetic biology from DTU.

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During this evening, we’ll dive into:

🧬 How large language models are used to engineer novel proteins

💻 Why Cradle chose a pure software model (and what that means for biotech)

🔄 What biotech and big tech can learn from each other

After the interview, enjoy networking drinks in the company of forward-thinking investors, founders, and changemakers working to shape the future of our planet.

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📆 Program

18:00 – 18:15 | Welcome drinks & arrival

18:15 – 19:30 | Presentation and Q&A with Elise de Reus

19:30 – 20:00 | Networking drinks & bites

📍 Location: Rivvia (Keizersgracht 127)

🗣️ Language: English

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🔔 Application required

Due to the intimate nature of the event, space is limited. We aim to create a high-quality, engaging setting where participants can contribute meaningfully and connect with like-minded peers. Applications will be reviewed before invitations are confirmed. We recommend signing up early.