The belief that science and technology can help solve the world’s most pressing challenges drives our work at CZI. In particular, the intersection of AI and biology holds exciting promise for the future of scientific research. Over the coming decades, AI will revolutionize our understanding of cellular systems, paving the way for groundbreaking discoveries in human health.
As we work toward these bigger breakthroughs, we are already seeing examples of how AI is dramatically changing how researchers work.
At our Imaging Institute, researchers recently applied machine learning tools to analyze and draw valuable insights from 13,000 3D images of individual proteins inside human cells. These 3D images are about 500 times thinner than a piece of paper but are packed with information about how our cells function.
Analyzing one of these images can take hours — doing thousands takes months. With AI, researchers analyzed over 10,000 images in just a few days. The earliest signs of disease are in our cells, and advances like this bring us closer to understanding those signals and changes.
