Revolutionizing Biology with Generative A.I.: An Exclusive Interview with Simon Kohl
Simon Kohl, the founder and CEO of Latent Labs, is at the forefront of a scientific revolution that is transforming the field of biology. Recognized on this year’s A.I. Power Index, Kohl has co-developed the Nobel Prize-winning breakthrough AlphaFold2, which cracked one of biology’s grand challenges. Now, he is using A.I. to move biology from observation to creation. At Latent Labs, Kohl is advancing a vision where biology becomes programmable, and drugs can be designed with the precision and speed of semiconductor engineering.
Photo by JL Creative, Courtesy of Latent Labs
From Observation to Creation: The Promise of Generative A.I. in Biology
The promise of generative A.I. in biology is matched by its complexity and responsibility. Kohl argues that the assumption that A.I. will make biology “easy” overnight is wrong. Biology remains fundamentally messy, and A.I. currently amplifies our capabilities, but it still requires deep scientific intuition to ask the right questions and interpret what the models are telling us. At Latent Labs, Kohl’s platform, LatentX, achieves laboratory hit rates of 91 to 100 percent for macrocycles, an astonishing leap compared to the sub-one-percent success rates of traditional methods.
The Technical Breakthroughs Enabling the Leap from Predicting Existing Structures to Creating Novel Ones
The breakthrough was moving from predicting what nature has created to generating what it could create but hasn’t. AlphaFold2 understood existing structures, but Latent-X co-samples sequence and structure simultaneously, designing both molecular sequence and 3D shape in real-time while following atomic-level rules. This technical breakthrough has enabled the leap from predicting existing structures to creating novel ones, and it is changing the timeline for drug discovery. Scientists can now achieve in 30 candidates what previously required testing millions, turning months of experiments into seconds of computation.
Balancing Democratization with Safety and Responsibility
Kohl’s web-based LatentX platform allows researchers to design proteins directly in their browser, making this cutting-edge capability accessible to academic institutions and biotech startups. However, this democratization of technology also raises concerns about safety and responsibility. Kohl takes dual-use implications seriously and actively participates in biosafety discussions with regulators. The company restricts access per international sanctions lists and integrates wet lab validation to ensure real-world implications are understood, not just computational possibilities.
Targeting Therapeutic Areas and Evolving Competition
Latent Labs is targeting specific therapeutic areas, including oncology, autoimmune diseases, and rare genetic disorders, where traditional discovery struggles. The company’s models are general in nature and can generate macrocycles, mini-binders, and antibody formats from scratch. With the biologics market growing to over £1 trillion by 2033, success depends on delivering lab-validated results, with scalable engineering that satisfies the security requirements of the industry. Kohl’s expertise, combined with the company’s world-leading expertise from experience in building AlphaFold, wet lab validation, and enterprise-grade platform engineering, gives Latent Labs a competitive edge.
For more information about Simon Kohl and Latent Labs, read the full interview Here
Image Source: observer.com
