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Working Title: Open Science in the Age of AI
Invited speaker: James Fraser, PhD, Ernest L. Prien Professor and Chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, UCSF.
Description
In 2020, AlphaFold transformed the field of structural biology by using artificial intelligence (AI) to solve a problem researchers had worked on for over fifty years: predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins. Its success was made possible in part by the extensive collection of protein structures that biologists have openly shared in the Protein Data Bank since 1971. AlphaFold demonstrates how research shared today can enable discoveries that its creators may never have anticipated.
Drawing on his experiences as a structural biologist, Dr. Fraser will explore what it means to practice open science as new technologies reshape how research is conducted and shared. He will discuss how data increasingly have both human and machine audiences, as well as the debate over the missing AlphaFold3 code. Dr. Fraser will also reflect on the research questions he chooses to tackle because AI still cannot solve them, and why reviewing the work of others is one of the best ways to learn how to become a scientist.
Speaker Bio
Dr. James Fraser is the Ernest L. Prien Professor and Chair of the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at UC San Francisco (UCSF). He received his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and was an EMBO Short-Term Fellow at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel before beginning his independent research career at UCSF.
Dr. Fraser’s research explores how proteins move and change shape — and how these dynamics influence their biological functions. His lab combines experimental and computational approaches to reveal the different structures proteins can adopt and to understand how they respond to chemical, genetic, and physical changes. This work bridges structural biology, biophysics, protein engineering, and drug discovery, with implications across a range of therapeutic areas. Dr. Fraser’s contributions have been recognized with numerous awards and honors, including the Carl Brändén Award from the Protein Society (2025), the inaugural W.H. & W.L. Bragg Prize from the International Union of Crystallography (2020), and an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (2011). He was also named to Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” list of rising stars in science and innovation (2011).
As a leader and active practitioner of open science, Dr. Fraser has worked to advance more open, transparent, and collaborative approaches to conducting and communicating research. His lab puts these principles into practice by openly sharing research outputs, including preprints, protocols, data, and code. For 7 years, Dr. Fraser served on the board of ASAPbio, a nonprofit working to promote innovation and transparency in life science communication. He is also a proponent for open peer review, including collaboratively reviewing preprints with his trainees and sharing those reviews publicly through PREreview. His commitment to open science extends to how research and researchers are evaluated, including advocating for hiring and promotion practices aligned with the principles of the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA).
Event logistics
This event may be photographed or recorded.
Advance registration is recommended as space is limited.
