Few problems in medicine are more intricate and more consequential than aging. Overlapping biological processes often determine how long people can live in good health. At Calico Life Sciences, head of AI/ML Matt Onsum and chief scientist Katherine Labbé apply Co-Scientist to connect scattered findings about the biology of aging and turn them into hypotheses worth testing.
This is not an basic task because the biological literature is full of discoveries of varying quality, dead ends, and results that cannot be replicated. Onsum says the co-scientist impressed Calico experts with his scientific insight, helping cut through the noise and helping them identify recent ideas that are truly worth exploring.
One example comes from Calico’s work on the integrated stress response (ISR), a protective cellular mechanism that, if constantly turned on, can also contribute to disease. Calico’s team used Co-Scientist to formulate a recent but plausible hypothesis regarding the regulation of ISR by metabolism, which is known to change with age and various diseases. The researchers also engaged with a co-scientist to refine the experimental design, test the hypothesis, and provide recent information as results became available. The experiments led to recent discoveries that have crucial implications for the role of ISR in health and disease, and the team plans to publish the results.