Patrick Hsu

Patrick D. Hsu (born June 25, 1993) is an American bioengineer, entrepreneur, and investor specializing in CRISPR, machine learning, synthetic biology, and gene therapy. He is an assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley and a co-founder of Arc Institute, a research organization focused on accelerating biomedical discovery.

Biography

Hsu earned his bachelor's degree in bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He then completed his PhD at Harvard University under the mentorship of Feng Zhang at the Broad Institute, where he contributed to early developments in CRISPR-based gene-editing technologies.

After completing his doctorate at age 21, Hsu worked as a principal investigator at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, where he invented CRISPR-Cas13 systems for controlling gene expression and cellular behavior. He later joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where his lab focuses on AI foundation models for biology and developing gene editing technologies. His research has over 65,000 citations, according to Google Scholar.

In 2020, he helped to start Fast Grants to provide rapid funding to scientists working on research projects that could help with the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with Stanford University professor Silvana Konermann and Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, Hsu is the Co-founder of Arc Institute, an independent research organization focused on accelerating discoveries in biology and medicine.

Achievements and recognition

Hsu has received several prestigious awards recognizing his contributions to CRISPR, synthetic biology, and machine learning for biology. He was named to the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 list in 2017 for his pioneering work in genome engineering. He was included in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science in 2015 for his contributions to CRISPR technology. His discovery of the first programmable recombinases was named among the 5 Important Medical Breakthroughs of 2024 by Forbes, and his development of genomic language models was named one of The Most Important Breakthroughs of 2024 by The Atlantic.

Hsu has also been featured in The Economist for discussions on the future of gene editing. His TED Talk on genome engineering has contributed to the public discourse on CRISPR, and his work played a role in CRISPR being named Breakthrough of the Year. He recently gave an interview with Sequoia Capital on 'Building an App Store for Biology with AI'.

Research

Hsu's research focuses on using artificial intelligence (AI) to advance biology as well as the development of genome editing technologies such as recombinases and CRISPR. This includes using AI to advance cell-based models. His work has contributed to:
* DNA foundation models that enable biological sequence modeling and design across molecular contexts and modalities, published in Science.
* AI-driven gene editing, where computational models are used to design new gene editors that surpass naturally occurring enzymes.
* Bridge RNAs for programmable recombination, which allow for precise DNA modifications without traditional genome-editing tools.
* " Jumping gene" enzymes, which enable DNA insertion and deletion without using CRISPR, a novel approach published in Nature in 2024.
* CRISPR-based DNA and RNA-targeting technologies, establishing widely used tools for genome editing.

Commercial interests

Based on his gene insertion technology, Hsu co-founded and raised $85 million for Stylus Medicine, a startup aimed to develop gene therapies. He is also the co-founder of Terrain Biosciences, a startup leveraging AI models and technologies for designing and manufacturing RNA, and an investor in AI companies.

References

External links

Hsu Lab at Arc Institute

The Atlantic - The Most Important Breakthroughs of 2024

MIT Technology Review - Innovators Under 35

Forbes 30 Under 30 - Science

Salk Institute Research Fellows

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Living people
American bioengineers
Synthetic biologists
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Harvard University alumni
Broad Institute people
1993 births