Fergus Simpson uses AI for drug discovery

“What can physicists do? ” is an interview series that profiles physicists who opted for careers outside of academia.

What was your research focus?

Primarily cosmology. I was in theoretical physics and looked at dark matter and dark energy. I worked a bit in astrobiology: Where do we come from? How did the universe come to be?

What were you looking for in a job?

I stayed in academia for nearly a decade after my PhD as an ERC [European Research Council] fellow. I was enjoying what I was doing, and I followed my nose. I didn’t have long-term plans. But I wanted to work in a startup and have real-world impact.

I was fortunate that just as I was coming to the end of my ERC contract in Barcelona, Spain, a friend was joining an AI startup in London. I had the opportunity to jump into a small team that was training AI on financial data.

I stayed there for about 18 months. Then I joined another, larger startup company in Cambridge, where I spent seven years. The work there was a mix of research and customer work. One of the things I worked on was using AI to optimize the design and calibration of electric motors to improve the efficiency of electric vehicles. I didn’t really feel like I’d left academia.

I moved in September to Barcelona to be an AI research lead at my current company.

How have your responsibilities shifted now that you work in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry?

On the internal side, I’m looking at building and improving AI tools for employees. Externally, I’m looking, for example, to see how AI can help operate clinical trials. And I’m working on how the latest AI models can be evaluated and exploited for cancer drug discovery.

How do you use your physics?

I have to come up with innovative solutions to technical problems and rigorously evaluate what holds up to data and reality. A lot of AI boils down to statistical calculations. That’s a key transferable skill, and it’s what allowed me to make the jump.

What new skills have you needed?

I’m new to the pharma industry, so I’m learning about clinical trials, regulatory aspects, data security, and how the company operates.

What do you like about your job?

It’s an exciting time to work in AI. The technology is moving quickly, and the potential is high.