Joe Betts-LaCroix

CEO of Retro Biosciences

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

@ArtirKel @RetroBio_ ♥️

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

so excited for this! working placenta is a huge deal

[Becoming @becoming_ai]

How do we go from a single cell to a complex organism?

For 50 yrs experimentally meeting the nutritional demands of a growing organism has been a bottleneck in development.

For the first time, we built placental support and predictive tools to make it possible.

Watch ↓

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

science has produced all the splendor we enjoy today, and Episteme is creating new opportunities to nurture breakout science. go Louis and team!

[Louis Andre @louisnandre]

Today, we're announcing @episteme, a new type of R&D company that recruits exceptional scientists to pursue high-impact ideas.

Science isn’t bottlenecked by the availability of talent, but by places where they can do their best work.

Scientific progress has driven human flourishing: extending lifespans, lifting billions from poverty, and expanding our understanding of the universe.

But history is littered with transformational ideas that were overlooked in their time. That problem is still acute today: too much promising talent remains uncultivated, and remarkable ideas die in the lab or are filtered out by misaligned incentives.

Today, scientists face suboptimal paths for translating their research into impact: academia is famously risk-averse and incentivizes publications and winning grants vs. translational research. Industry is too often focused on short‑term incentives. And startups lack the substantial capital, expertise, and complex infrastructure needed to deliver long-term scientific progress.

On top of that, recent funding cuts in the US mean the overall supply of ideas is decreasing. Put together, the global scientific production system is operating at a fraction of its capacity.

How Episteme operates is different: we identify great scientists who can meaningfully benefit humanity, but who aren’t supported efficiently within traditional institutions today. Researcher by researcher, we work with them to determine the bespoke resources, operational support, and environmental conditions to execute on their research. We bring them together in-house, and provide those resources to ensure that their breakthroughs are deployed for real-world impact.

We’ve already assembled an amazing team of operators, ranging from the Gates Foundation, DeepMind, ARPAs, DoE – just to name a few – and researchers who are pursuing important problems across physics, biology, computing, and energy. Our team has spoken to hundreds of researchers across disciplines and geographies to understand the limitations they’re facing and what can be done better, and designed Episteme for them.

We’re backed by individuals like @sama, Masayoshi Son, and other long-term partners who share our mission of enabling ambitious science for tangible human impact.

About me: I started working as a researcher 9 years ago, on problems ranging from AI-driven drug discovery to developing brain-machine interfaces. It was that experience that led me to realize that so many scientists with great potential to change the world don’t have access to opportunities equal to their capacities.

@sama and I believe that much better science should happen for humanity, and that a new engine is needed to support that. We decided to cofound Episteme together, and I am incredibly grateful for Sam’s unwavering support as a thought partner and founding investor.

Our conviction is that by supporting the right people with the right incentives, we're set to generate breakthrough discoveries to benefit humanity. We cannot rely on the course of history to shape scientific progress; we need to proactively shape the system by supporting the most talented people with the right resources and incentives.

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

so proud of the teams – and excited about the momentum!

[Sam Altman @sama]

so cool!

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

now freed from paywall on youtube https://t.co/vBZCaGLmhf

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

consummate storyteller Ashlee Vance just released a video episode on Retro, honoring an unsung hero https://t.co/eJCjc85d3l

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

@crotchety80sKid by "person" you probably mean Ashlee!

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

great fun and a huge privilege to get so much time with Ashlee ❤️

[Ashlee Vance @ashleevance]

Joe Betts LaCroix on Longevity and Building and Destroying Things, by @ashleevance https://t.co/QSMHqFKHlM

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

a limitless renewable energy source: focus

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

already found this useful! (required a bit of patience because it's probably getting crushed by interest)

[Sam Rodriques @SGRodriques]

Introducing PaperQA2, the first AI agent that conducts entire scientific literature reviews on its own.

PaperQA2 is also the first agent to beat PhD and Postdoc-level biology researchers on multiple literature research tasks, as measured both by accuracy on objective benchmarks and assessments by human experts. We are publishing a paper and open-sourcing the code.

This is the first example of AI agents exceeding human performance on a major portion of scientific research, and will be a game-changer for the way humans interact with the scientific literature.

Paper and code are below, and congratulations in particular to @m_skarlinski, @SamCox822, @jonmlaurent, James Braza, @MichaelaThinks, @mjhammerling, @493Raghava, @andrewwhite01, and others who pulled this off. 1/

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

wearing many hats is one of the fun (and hard) aspects of building a startup

and then

taking them off one by one as the company grows is a really incredible feeling

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

@AlexJColville @NSF @DrChrisTSmith wonder whether the ratio will be different for fresh doctorates minted *in* industry:https://t.co/rRR8rwnU0o

[Retro Biosciences @RetroBio_]

We are proud to announce the Retro PhD!
Retro College is now accredited in both the EU and USA to grant PhDs.
Our first 2 students have been accepted, and we have openings for 3 more.
https://t.co/ogs21Lx3WI

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

so excited for this!

[Retro Biosciences @RetroBio_]

We are proud to announce the Retro PhD!
Retro College is now accredited in both the EU and USA to grant PhDs.
Our first 2 students have been accepted, and we have openings for 3 more.
https://t.co/ogs21Lx3WI

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

@tszzl i already have a data center in my back yard -- DM me to come visit!

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

with @aocampox who kicked off this whole field of partial epigenetic reprogramming

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

@RyanBethencourt @johncumbers would love to help with (2)

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

@AviSchiffmann 10 has always been my fave number for prototype builds

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

totally support @time recognizing Sam as their CEO of the year!
https://t.co/t83YnjvCRE

[Joe Betts-LaCroix @bettslacroix]

@celinehalioua super impressed!!!!!