Why I: Isomorphic Labs colleagues share why they joined the company

Isomorphic Labs is recruiting the diverse, inclusive and multidisciplinary team that will redefine drug discovery and realise the promise of digital biology for all. Because we’re aiming for world-changing impact, the environment we operate in must be oriented to innovation. We know we’ll get where we’re going faster, and have more fun along the way, in a high-velocity, high-trust culture defined by ambition, care and collaboration. Read more from individuals who have joined Isomorphic Labs about what attracted them to the company, and what makes working here such a meaningful and extraordinary experience.

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Julien Herzen, Senior Manager, Software Engineering

“While I’ve lived in many places, I was born and educated in Lausanne and I’m very attached to this city. After years of helping companies in a variety of industries use machine learning, I became interested in how machine learning could be applied to science, biology and drug design. Success in that endeavour could be transformative for society. When I learned that Isomorphic Labs was building its presence in Lausanne, I was all in. I can’t imagine a better way to spend my time and energy, nor a better mission. Now that I’ve started and am experiencing the diversity of people who are here working against a common goal, I know that we are going to make a difference.”

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Pascal Savy, Computational Chemist

“When the news about AlphaFold broke and everyone was given access to the database, I couldn’t resist. Straight away, I started to use it. Within a few hours, I could tell it was going to completely transform the field of structural biology. It’s hard to describe how huge the moment felt: it honestly wasn’t like anything I’d seen before. When the opportunity to work at Iso came up, I jumped on it. Not only was I getting to work with AlphaFold day-to-day and leverage DeepMind’s heritage, but I also knew that I had a chance to be a part of changing the future of how medical breakthroughs are made.”

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Tom Ayoola, Software Engineer

“When you bring together people under one roof with such different backgrounds - tech, healthcare, and academia, just for starters - you would expect everyone to work separately and do their own thing, even if collectively you’re trying to achieve one mission. At Iso, these silos don’t exist. From the start, I think we recognised that in order to revolutionise drug discovery, we had to do things differently. This led us to a number of ‘ways of working’ which, despite the differences in our professional and academic backgrounds, help us get the best out of each other so we can meet our goal. First, we work side-by-side in the office. Chemists sit next to Machine Learning experts; Biologists sit with Software Engineers. We also have scheduled times to teach each other the fundamentals of our respective fields. Both of these opportunities have been great - we’ve really started to develop a shared language which has helped us benefit from each other’s perspectives.”

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Margot Krouwer, Senior Manager, Software Engineering

“Iso is full of experts from different fields: with what we’re trying to accomplish, we need a diverse set of professional backgrounds. This comes with its own challenges. We have chemists, biologists, and machine learning engineers who have had individual success, but now they’re having to learn from each other and find ways to effectively communicate to achieve our mission. Saying that all out loud makes everything at Iso sound really serious - but actually one of the great things about working here is how relaxed and approachable everyone is. I learned pretty quickly when I first joined that all these brilliant people have a great sense of humour.”

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Catarina Santos, Computational Chemist

“One of the things I find really great about Iso is how cool and compelling the mix of people you get in the company is. It’s no secret that what Iso is looking to do is something which hasn’t really been attempted before: we’re trying to completely rethink the drug discovery process. From the outside, it can feel like a pretty daunting task, but when I joined Iso, the first thing that struck me was the unique group of people we have here. We have people with scientific backgrounds who are at the top of their fields working next to these globally recognised technology experts. With the talent in the room and how we work together day-to-day, I have a huge amount of confidence that we’re developing the best team to achieve our mission.”

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Malcolm Spain, Senior Medicinal Scientist

“The drug discovery process is slow. On average, it can take anywhere between 10 to 15 years for a new drug to be approved and sold, mostly because of how much guesswork there is involved in its development. It’s an unfortunate consequence that this puts treatments for many diseases, whether they impact large populations or are rare, out of reach. That’s why I find Iso’s mission really exciting. If we’re successful, we can completely transform the way the world discovers new drugs. This would be a gamechanger, particularly for those diseases that have baffled us for centuries.”

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Join us at Isomorphic Labs, where you can build a career while you build a company, and help realise the promise of digital biology.