The age of programming life has arrived.

Public Speaking

I've given hundreds of talks to groups including:

• Universities: Notably, Stanford and UCSD

• Corporate Events: Including Cisco, SimCorp, and Autodesk

• Consultancies: Deloitte, EY, BCG, and more

• International Organizations: Including the United Nations and CERN

• Government Entities: Including the Department of Defense, FBI, and U.S. Navy

• Media Outlets: Forbes, Bloomberg, and Wired

• Conferences: Including EG, TEDx, and ComicCon

• Science and Health Organizations: NIH, GESDA, and Exponential Medicine

• Special Interest Groups: International Symposium on Human Identification (ISHI) and the Veterinary Innovation Summit

• Creative and Design Organizations: CreativeMornings, AIGA, and IDEO

• Technology and Engineering: Future-forward organizations including Jeff Bezos's exclusive MARS conference

Speaking Topics

Biology and the bioeconomy

Biosecurity and biodefense

Humanity's biological future

Understanding biotechnology

Biological safety and security are crucial for personal health and national defense. As biology digitizes, it increases the risk of biological weapon development, bioattacks, and biological warfare.

Biotechnology will dramatically change our relationship with other creatures, our impact on the environment, and even what it means to be human. Get insights into where humanity is heading.

Life is the only technology we didn't create, making it mysterious and controversial. Scientists have spent centuries reverse-engineering biochemistry. Now AI and digital biology is opening the door to programming it.

I love to create bespoke presentations for your audience or event. It's all about what message you need to deliver.

Need a custom presentation?

Biology represents about 5% of US GDP and touches on almost every economic sector. As biotechnology changes, so does the bioeconomy.

I've written for academic journals and mass market publications including The Atlantic, Wired UK, Proto.Life, and Scientific American. My work has been optioned by Paramount Pictures and translated and published in multiple languages.

I co-authored "The Genesis Machine: Our Quest to Rewrite Life in the Age of Synthetic Biology" with Amy Webb. Published by PublicAffairs, a division of Hachette Book Group, the book has garnered critical acclaim, earning distinctions such as a New Yorker Best Book of 2022, achieving Amazon bestseller status, and being recommended by McKinsey.

I write regularly on Medium.

Writing

Advising and Consulting

Whether you're an individual, a small organization, or a global corporation, your thinking will change after we connect.

Projects, Prototyping, and Startups

I am a co-founder and chairman of the Genome Project-write, a global scientific and engineering community interested in writing genomes from scratch, including the human genome. Founded in 2016, it is a thought leader at the forefront of synthetic genomics.

Leveraging my Autodesk experiences, I co-founded Humane Genomics, a New York-based company specializing in precision-engineered synthetic oncolytic viruses as cancer therapies. I think it's a game-changing technology.

While at Autodesk, a design software company, I spearheaded the "3D printing" of complete genomes and designer organisms, starting with bacteriophage PhiX174. This work was widely recognized in the media and ultimately acquired by the New York Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

I want to see digital twins of organisms ranging from microbes to people. This work has extended into explorations of biological banking, computer modeling and simulation, and synthetic genome/organism printing. I'm slowly becoming an avatar. I also want to be cloned after I'm dead. Immortality is better than longevity.

As a member of the XPrize Foundation's brain trust in the Health domain, I'm championing the development of next-generation DNA Writing technology capable of synthesizing and assembling microbial-scale genomes. This is a world-changing technology that we need sooner rather than later. If you want to learn more, reach out. I'll tell all...

In October 2024, I co-organized GENESIS BIOSECURITY, an unconference in New York City that brought together biosecurity experts, cybersecurity professionals, government leaders, designers, and engineers to brainstorm the future of biosecurity in the age of digital biology.

Contact

Email:

ahessel@gmail.com