Bits in Bio 2026.4 :: AI-as-a Scientist?

​Hello Bits in Bio Belgium! 👋

​Time for another meetup, this time together with the GenAI community at Wintercircus in Ghent.

Ending 2026 with a bang: is AI already a scientific collaborator, or still only a very fast intern?

​LLMs can now propose and (attempt to) rank hypotheses, connect evidence across fields and suggest the next experiment. Some researchers use them daily. Most of us have no idea what that looks like in practice, or what they accept, reject and double check afterwards. Some of us are just chatting away and summarizing papers, others are setting up closed-loop auto-research systems that come up with genuinely novel ideas.

​We're lining up Belgian researchers around this topic. Computer scientist that have the convenience of working with self-verifiable systems, Biologist who deal with a slower feedback loop in the wet lab, and the general implications on the science of science.

​After the talks we open the floor for discussion, then drinks and meeting new people. Come with your toughest question on hypothesis generation or experimental design.

​Wed 2 December, doors 18:30, talks from 19:00. Wintercircus Ghent.

​19h00: Intro. AI-as-a-co-scientist: setting the scene by Kenny Helsens & Remi Delanghe
19h10: Talk #1 TBA
19h40: Talk #2 TBA
20h10: Talk #3 TBA
20h40: Closing Q&A & Netw
20h45: Drinks & Networking

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​Bring someone from the other side of the fence: a bench scientist if you're a data person, a computational biologist if you're wet lab. That's where ideas collide best. Hope to see you there! :)

Speakers TBC the following days!