This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. David Hallett, Chief Scientific Officer at Recursion. They discuss the biggest shifts in drug discovery over Dave's three-decade career, where AI is genuinely transforming the field today versus where the hype outruns the reality, and how Recursion's perturbational maps have uncovered and validated a novel neurodegeneration target.
Show Notes
0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast
01:00 Welcome to Dave
01:57 The biggest shifts in drug discovery over three decades
06:39 Where AI is delivering real wins across drug discovery today
12:19 How AI-assisted trial simulation reveals which eligibility criteria to relax
14:46 The three biggest reasons drug programs fail in the clinic
18:20 How Recursion's perturbational maps uncover new drug targets
24:58 A four-step framework for validating a novel drug target
28:44 How Recursion balances deep therapeutic focus with partnership breadth
30:52 Why AI can't shortcut clinical trials, and what proof of real impact looks like
34:57 The skills scientists need most in the AI era, and why trusting AI outputs starts with trusting the data
39:52 Closing remarks
Find out more:
Recursion (https://www.recursion.com/)