🧬 Noam Solomon - Immunai - Part 2 | The Value of Attending Prestigious Institutions | Immunai’s Genesis | AI, Machine Learning, & Their Applications in the Life Sciences

Part 2 of 4.

My guest for this week’s episode is Noam Solomon, CEO and co-founder at Immunai, a pioneering biotech company that is comprehensively mapping and reprogramming the immune system with single-cell biology and AI to power new therapeutic discoveries, accelerate drug development, and improve patient outcomes.

Prior to co-founding Immunai, Noam had a career in both industry and academia. Noam has a double PhD in math and computer science and served as a postdoctoral researcher at MIT and Harvard. Noam also worked as an algorithms developer, consultant, and head of data science in several high-tech companies in Israel. Noam's extensive background in math, computer science, AI, and machine learning gives him a unique depth of experience that founders can learn from.

Join us this week and hear about:

The impact of attending prestigious institutions like Harvard and MIT on his career and networking opportunities
The genesis of Immunai, inspired by personal experiences and focused on precision medicine in cancer treatment
Explaining AI and Machine Learning, their distinctions, and the current state of AI in biology and drug development
The complexity of the immune system and Immunai's ambitious goal to map it completely
The convergence of technological advancements (single-cell technology, computing power, and AI models) that created the "perfect storm" for founding Immunai

Please enjoy my conversation with Noam Solomon.

Timestamps:

00:28 Intro

02:00 Episode starts, Noam’s decision to pursue postdoctoral studies at Harvard and MIT

03:31 The value of pedigree and superficial evaluations in business

04:33 Moving to Boston and the cultural experience at Harvard and MIT

06:47 Humility in mathematics and the inspiration from academic environments

08:19 Incubation of Immunai and the motivation behind its founding

11:41 The role of AI and ML in life sciences and common misconceptions

14:39 Progress in AI, ML, and their implications in drug development

18:46 Early days of Immunai and developing the technology platform

24:03 Mapping the human immune system and the complexity involved