Jorge is Machine Learning Developer at EMBO. “We are using machine learning to try to improve the life of scientists,” he says. With so much experimental data available, it is near to impossible for researchers to keep track of the latest research he says. Using an annotated database of EMBO publications and data together with publicly available repositories such as bioRxiv, Jorge and the team are building AI tools and models to create knowledge bases that distil and summarize information for researchers, making searching for information more time effective. In this way the team created Early Evidence Base, a knowledge base containing all new empirical biological knowledge including more than 160,000 annotated papers and 1 million figures; it is now available for users. “We are helping the science community in their academic lives. That for me is a really big thing,” he says.
We are helping the science community in their academic lives. That for me is a really big thing
Jorge studied astrophysics and while he is still fascinated by space, he knew if he couldn’t spend his career at the telescope, he would need to find another calling. After a career path that took him from jobs in academia to industry, he felt he needed to get back to a place closer to science. At EMBO he feels he has found the right balance – being part of academia ecosystem without having to himself compete for a place on the scientific career ladder. “It is a really good way to come back to academia. It feels good,” he says.
Astrophysics is very interesting, but here we are doing things that actually can actually have an impact on the quality of human life. The number of applications the research community contributes to is amazing
He is passionate about being able to support the field of biomedical research. “Astrophysics is very interesting, but here we are doing things that actually can actually have an impact on the quality of human life. The number of applications the research community contributes to is amazing.” At EMBO he also enjoys the familiar atmosphere and the collaborative spirit.
