Speaker Profile
Biography
Harlan Robins is a CoFounder of Adaptive Biotechnologies, a commercial stage biotech company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease. Prior to cofoundingconfounding Adaptive, Harlan served in various roles at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) in the Computational Biology Program, including Assistant Faculty Member, Associate, and Full Member and Head of the program. Interested in the mathematics behind genetics and observing the potential utility of high level mathematics to study problems in the biological sciences, Harlan took a postdoctoral appointment at the Institute for Advance Study in Princeton under famed biologist Dr. Arnold Levine. With Dr. Levine, he concentrated on developing bioinformatic algorithms for micro RNA targets and bacterial genome analysis, a precursor to his faculty appointment at FHCRC in the Computational Biology Group, Public Health Sciences and Human Biology Divisions.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Co-Chairs:
Gad Getz, Broad Institute
Alex Morgan, Khosla Ventures
PMWC Award Ceremony Honoree
• Greg Brockman, President & Co-Founder, OpenAI
• Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder, Apple
Keynote
• Vinod Khosla, Khosla Ventures
Target Discovery: Beyond Genomics – Revealing Hidden Layers of Biology with AI
• Keynote: Stephen Quake, CZ Biohub
• Aritro Nath, City of Hope
• Massa Shoura, Phinomics
• Omar Serang, DNAnexus
Illuminating Drug Discovery: AI Models That Learn From Biology
• Erwin Estigarribia, HEADLAMP Health
Harmonizing the Data Economy: Enabling AI Across Institutions and Therapeutic Areas
• Noah Nasser, Datma
Can AI Really Create the Next Blockbuster Drug?
• James Zou, Stanford
Interpretable AI for Biomarker Discovery: Accelerating Drug Development
• Chair: Rajat Roy, PATHOMIQ INC
Closing the Loop: AI in the Messy Middle of Drug Development
• Ari Caroline, Weave Bio
• Dina Katabi, Emerald / MIT
Is AI the New Drug?
• Michael J. Kahana, Nia Therapeutics