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Lecture “Algorithms for Biomolecular Structures at Proteome Scale”

Published: March 21, 2026; Aithor: Julia Sonrisa

Registration for this lecture will close at 2 p.m. the day of the event. Review the complete list of entrance requirements below.

This lecture is part of the Folding the Future: The Structural Biology Revolution

Breakthroughs in deep learning methods for protein structure prediction have transformed structural biology. At the same time, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has enabled the reconstruction of molecular structures and the capture of movies with unprecedented detail. As machine learning continues to transform structural biology, what are the next frontiers for biomolecular structure determination?

In this Presidential Lecture, Ellen Zhong will describe the algorithmic challenges at the frontier of structure determination via cryo-EM. She will provide an overview of cryoDRGN, a machine learning system for heterogeneous cryo-EM and cryo-ET reconstruction. Along the way, she will overview recent progress her group has made in reconstructing complex mixtures, developing challenging benchmarks for structural heterogeneity and visualizing dynamic biomolecular complexes inside the cell. Finally, she will discuss how multimodal foundation models that integrate sequence, structure, and imaging data can enable new approaches to reconstructing dynamic biomolecular complexes at scale, pointing toward a data-driven paradigm for visual proteomics.

Zhong is an assistant professor of computer science at Princeton University. Her group’s research spans methodological research in AI and computer vision, as well as close collaboration with experimentalists in molecular and structural biology. She previously worked on the AlphaFold team at Google DeepMind and on molecular dynamics for drug discovery at D. E. Shaw Research. Her work has been recognized with the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, the Schmidt Sciences AI2050 Early Career Fellowship, and a Major Society Award from the Microscopy Society of America. She earned her Ph.D. from MIT in 2022.

Registration requirements

• You must be 18+ to attend this event
• Registration will close at 2:00 p.m. the day of the event
• Please only register yourself and use your complete first and last name as it appears on your photo ID when filling in the form.
• Tickets under the same name do not count as registrations for others, and each ticket must be registered under an individual attendee’s name. If you have a guest you would like to bring with you to this event, please send them the link to register so they can sign up on their own.
• Please note that the Simons Foundation will never ask for credit card information or require payment for registration to our free public events.

Building entry protocol

• Provide a valid photo ID
• Present your digital or printed Eventbrite ticket confirmation; make sure it is for the correct event and that the name on it matches your ID.
• Limited seating is available for this in-person event and is on a first-come, first-served basis.
• All attendees must be pre-registered. Walk-in entry will be denied.

Please note that by entering the Simons Foundation, you are attesting that you are not experiencing COVID symptoms and are not knowingly positive for COVID.

Schedule

Doors open: 5:30 p.m. (No entrance before 5:30 p.m.)

Lecture: 6:00–7:00 p.m. (Admittance closes at 6:20 p.m.)

The Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and offers accessible seating to visitors with special access needs.

Presidential Lectures are free public colloquia at the Simons Foundation centered on four main themes: Biology, Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science, and Neuroscience and Autism Science. These curated, high-level scientific talks feature leading scientists and mathematicians and are intended to foster discourse and drive discovery among the broader NYC-area research community. We invite anyone interested in the topic to join us for this weekly lecture series.

Free!

Registration

Detailed information and discussion of the event.