I am a Research Scientist at SecureBio, leading the AI x Bio Team. Our goals are to: [1] understand how AI is changing the study of biology, and [2] develop new ways to measure and mitigate the risks of biological misuse in the era of accelerating AI.
I have also done academic research—wet-lab and computational—on a variety of study organisms. My work has included cell biology, genetics, development, evolution, ecology, quantitative modeling. A major connecting theme has been to uncover predictable patterns in complex biological systems.
Background
- I’m from the United States. I grew up in Pittsburgh and I live in Chicago.
- I studied biology at Swarthmore College and then worked for several years as a lab manager and biomedical researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where I wrote software tools to measure cell polarity.
- I did my PhD at Harvard University, where I applied computer vision methods to address open problems in developmental genetics and the predictability of evolution. I used genome modification, computational modeling, high-throughput microscopy, and custom-built lab tools to better understand the mechanisms underlying cell-cell signaling and tissue patterning. I also developed approaches for using natural language processing methods to build large composite datasets from the published literature.
- Next, I did research as a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Chicago, where I used emerging image-based ML/AI tools to tackle problems in quantitative cellular dynamics.
- After that I began working at the interface of AI and biosecurity. My team at SecureBio studies how AI is changing discovery and engineering in biology, with a particular focus on preventing intentional misuse. We develop novel evaluations, conduct red-teaming, and map the scientific risks of our rapidly changing technological landscape.
Teaching
I have taught courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. In some cases I’ve been a teaching fellow, while in others I was the curriculum designer and course lead. Courses have included:
- Pathogen Ecology & Evolution
- Cell Biology, Neurobiology, & Developmental Biology
- Genetics, Genomics, & Evolution
- Embryology
- Animal Behavior
- Scientific Figure Design
Interests
My go-to hobby is sketching the people and things around me. I like to design my own pop-up cards. I like games: poker, chess, Scrabble, Risk, others. I write Murder Mystery stories that I host for friends; I also write homebrew RPGs. When I can, I play soccer and basketball to re-live the glory days.
Contact
email: seth.donoughe [at] gmail [dot] com
Twitter / X: @seth_donoughe