Biomolecular design, through artificial engineering of proteins, ligands, and nucleic acids, holds immense promise in addressing pressing me
… (see more)dical, industrial, and environmental challenges. While generative machine learning has shown significant potential in this area, a palpable disconnect exists with experimental biology: many ML research efforts prioritize static benchmark performance, potentially sidelining impactful biological applications. This workshop seeks to bridge this gap by bringing computationalists and experimentalists together, catalyzing a deeper interdisciplinary discourse. Together, we will explore the strengths and challenges of generative ML in biology, experimental integration of generative ML, and biological problems ready for ML. To attract high-quality and diverse research, we partnered with Nature Biotechnology for a special collection, and we created dedicated tracks for in-silico ML research and hybrid ML-experimental biology research. Our lineup features emerging leaders as speakers and renowned scientists as panelists, encapsulating a spectrum from high-throughput experimentation and computational biology to generative ML. With a diverse organizing team and backed by industry sponsors, we dedicate the workshop to pushing the boundaries of ML's role in biology.
