This talk is an activity from the FEBS Junior Section, an initiative set up by students and young researchers from some of the FEBS Constituent Societies. Each month members of the FEBS Junior Section organize an online event on either a research or a career topic. This talk was coordinated by the junior section of the Italian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SIB).
- Speaker’s name and affiliation: Dr. Toni Giorgino, Primo Ricercatore – Institute of Biophysics CNR, Milano, Italy
- Title: Sequence, Function, and the Question of Imitation in AI
- Date/Time (CET) of the talk: April 23rd 2026, 17:00 CET
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Link to register:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_POP4w6NISSm4Do9ya8QCug
Participants will have the opportunity to stay for an after-talk hangout to have an informal chat with the speaker, members of the FEBS Junior Section, and other participants.
Abstract
Machine learning (“artificial intelligence") can infer the mapping between sequence and function by training on evolution’s own experiments: natural variation and directed selection. I’ll show how models predict structure and activity, close the loop with automation, and turn models into designs. We’ll cover what’s reliable today, where it breaks, and how to use it responsibly.
Biosketch
Dr. Toni Giorgiono’s background includes computational biophysics, statistical learning, and software and hardware engineering of high-performance computational architectures. He acquired his degree in Physics and PhD in Bioengineering and Bioinformatics, and his postdoctoral research at the University of Pavia, Italy, was focused on artificial intelligence in medicine. Dr. Giorgino is a Tenured Senior Researcher and leader of the “GiorginoLab”, a computational science interdisciplinary group currently hosted in the Department of Biosciences of the University of Milan. The lab’s activity focuses on the application of computational models to interesting problems in biology and medicine at various scales, including protein-protein and protein-drug interactions, in which they make extensive use of molecular dynamics and statistical methods. He routinely gives seminars on statistical methods and biophysical applications at the Universities of Milan, Pavia, Verona, Padova, Pompeu Fabra, and others.
The FEBS Junior Section
Want to join this platform for young European life scientists? Learn more about our initiative, check out the Room for the FEBS Junior Section and – if you do not have a junior section yet – read this post about how to set one up!