How We Build a Future With More Time | Andy Lee | TEDxBoston Salon

Andy Lee, a technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Vincere Biosciences, looks at how computing and AI can support longer, healthier lives. He describes how his company used AI to identify an approach to restoring mitochondrial health, and the path from computational predictions toward a possible Parkinson's disease treatment. The talk also covers the challenges of showing that new medicines work in humans and the wider shift toward powerful tools becoming accessible to more people. The speaker's views are personal, and the TEDx organizers note that research on Parkinson's remains an ongoing field of study.

• AI-assisted discovery of an approach to restoring mitochondrial health
• From computational models toward a potential Parkinson's disease treatment
• Challenges of proving new medicines work in humans
• Making powerful technology accessible to more people

NOTE FROM TED: Research around Parkinson’s disease remains complex and an ongoing field of study. This talk represents the speaker's personal views and approach to longevity. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf What if the technologies transforming our world could also help us live longer, healthier lives? From writing his first computer programs at eight years old to using artificial intelligence to develop new medicines, Andy Lee has spent four decades exploring what computers can make possible. Together with his wife, neuroscientist Spring Behrouz, he co-founded Vincere Biosciences to tackle one of the great challenges of aging: why cells that function beautifully for decades eventually begin to fail. In this talk, Andy explores how AI helped uncover a promising approach to restoring mitochondrial health, the journey from computational predictions to a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease, and the challenges of proving that new medicines work in humans. But the bigger story isn't just about biotechnology. It's about a new era in which powerful tools are becoming accessible to more people—and what we might accomplish if we focus them on the problems that matter most. Because a future with more healthy time doesn't just happen. We build it. Andy Lee is a technology entrepreneur and co-founder of Vincere Biosciences, a biotechnology company developing therapies to restore mitochondrial quality control in neurodegenerative diseases and conditions associated with aging. With a background in computer science, AI, and computational biology, Andy has spent four decades building technologies to solve increasingly complex problems. Today, he works alongside his wife, neuroscientist Spring Behrouz, to bring AI-discovered medicines from computational models toward human clinical trials. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx