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Matt Thomson, Ph.D., received his B.A. in Physics and Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University. His graduate work focused on mathematical and data analysis methods for modeling complex regulatory networks in biology. Following his PhD, Dr. Thomson led an independent research group at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as a UCSF Fellow where he developed mathematical methods for modeling cell fate regulatory networks and tissue self-organization. His group has developed machine learning and mathematical modeling methods used by the ENCODE and human cell atlas projects. His differential geometry methods for model inference have been applied to train large language models (LLMs) and led to the founding of Yurts AI, a venture funded Bay Area software company, that is now deploying his LLM training algorithms for customers including the US Army and Nvidia. Dr. Thomson’s work has been recognized with a Packard Fellowship, the Merrimack Prize in Systems Biology, an NIH Early Independence Award, an NIH transformative R01, and an NIH Award for innovative technologies in Cancer Research. In addition to research, Dr. Thomson teaches courses in computational biology and mathematical biology at Caltech. Dr Thomson also strongly support scientific education at the secondary level and the group has developed a variety programs at UCSF and Caltech that integrate high-school students into university research.

October 2023