Episode Details

Alex Stark (EMBL Predoctoral Fellow 2001-2005) chats with Thomas Vaccari (EMBL Predoctoral Fellow 1999-2004). Alex describes the evolution of computational biology and its impact on understanding protein structures and gene regulation. He recounts early efforts to identify functional similarities between unrelated proteins before the advent of AlphaFold and serving as a member of one of the teams of judges for the CASP competition.

This conversation was recorded in January 2026.

Alumni Chat contributors are members of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) community. The opinions expressed are their own and are not necessarily representative of the views of EMBL or any other party. The mere appearance of content on EMBL Alumni media channels does not constitute an endorsement by EMBL.

Production and Editing: EMBL Alumni Relations

Content and Interviews: Angus Lamond and Thomas Vaccari

Music: Eco Technology by Aleksey Chistilin from Pixabay

Thanks to: EMBL Audiovisual and EMBL Design

Sponsored by: EMBLEM

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