Max Leisten is the Co-founder and CEO of Profluent, a biotechnology company pioneering the use of artificial intelligence, particularly deep generative models, to design and develop novel proteins and gene editors for therapeutic applications. He has a strong background in AI research, having previously worked as a Research Scientist at Google Brain and Salesforce Research. Max holds a PhD in Bioengineering from the UC Berkeley – UCSF Graduate Program, where his work focused on the intersection of machine learning and biological systems. He is passionate about leveraging AI to accelerate breakthroughs in biology and medicine, aiming to create next-generation therapies.
Max Leisten's work history includes a series of influential roles in various companies. Here is a detailed list of his professional journey:
Successfully co-founded Profluent in 2022, securing $9 million in seed funding and subsequently a $35 million Series A round to advance the development of AI-designed proteins and gene editing technologies. Leads the company's vision and execution in applying generative AI to create novel therapeutics.
Under his leadership, Profluent developed and open-sourced OpenCRISPR-1, the first large language model-generated gene editor with experimentally validated, high-accuracy editing capabilities across diverse human genomic loci, demonstrating the power of AI in creating functional biological tools.
Made significant contributions to machine learning research during his tenure as a Research Scientist at Google Brain and Salesforce Research, focusing on areas relevant to sequence modeling and generative AI, which formed a strong foundation for his work at Profluent.
Completed a PhD from the prestigious UC Berkeley – UCSF Graduate Program in Bioengineering, specializing in applying computational and machine learning techniques to biological challenges.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - Kenan-Flagler Business School
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