Name: Mapping the Invisible, from Technology to Biology
Start: 2026-03-19T19:00:00.000-04:00
End: 2026-03-19T21:00:00.000-04:00
Location: New York, New York

Informal "Fireside Chats" between a Technology Solutions Firm and an expert in their field about topics of mutual interest in person in our East Village office.

Tête-à-Tech

Join Kevin Slavin (President and Co-Founder, Fairfield Bio) and Noah Landow (Founder and CEO at Macktez) for an informal conversation about the global network of genomic information and its role in planetary health.

Kevin has been a Research lead and faculty at the MIT Media Lab, founding CTO at The Shed, and co-founder of a company that invented location-based games; you have likely seen clips from his lectures on how algorithms shape our world, luck, or even Toxoplasmosis but his work explores the wide intersection of algorithms, nature, and complex systems. We’ll talk about the nascent world of how genomic data at huge scales is becoming a critical infrastructure for monitoring global biosafety and predicting public health crises. And we’ll dig into intellectual property, biology, bioethics, and the fascinating intersection of biology, technology, and capitalism. 

Join us at the Macktez office, after work, over light snacks and sips, for a timely conversation on the systems we are building to read and interpret the planet’s biological data in real time. We will move from the fundamentals of genomic sequencing as a public health tool to the complex analytics used by organizations like the CDC to track viral evolution and prevent pandemics. This discussion will explore the practical and ethical challenges of creating global access to genetic information and the immense potential of using this data for our collective safety.

We ask that guests arrive between 7-7:30 pm to minimize disruption during the talk.

7 pm - Doors open, opportunity to mingle over snacks and sips with other attendees

7:30 pm - Guests take their seats for the talk

We have a limited capacity (and often have a long waitlist!). If your plans change, please update your registration so someone else can join.

A bit about Macktez, and why we host this series

Macktez is a technology consultancy collaborating with organizations going through dynamic change. 

​​Our goal is to form a lasting partnership between our team and our clients, so we can anticipate their technology challenges and help them navigate growth, disruption, and other evolving conditions.

​​Each event in our Tête-à-Tech series is an opportunity to explore a specific cultural, scientific, historical, and personal issue. We fire at the synapses that connect each topic to other fields of interest and to our individual lives. And we do so in a comfortable environment to facilitate conversation that can be casual, surprising, and illuminating.