
Discovering new pesticides with AI
We’re discovering new, safer pesticides using AI because pests are evolving resistance faster than industry can innovate, As a result, global pestcide usage has doubled per acre in the past 20 years, while pest-losses stay the same. We’re looking for a highly organized detail-oriented Laboratory Technician to join our fast-moving team and help solve this problem. This role centers around creating and analyzing dose–response curves, IC50 determination (biochemical), and working with live insects. You must have strong quantitative and analytical skills to generate clear, reproducible results.
We use AI to discover new pesticides, because the ones we have now are failing — pests keep evolving, and the chemicals kill too many other things (like humans). Our models replace slow, expensive lab work, letting us discover new molecules 100× faster. Our first pesticide targets a Spodoptera with a novel mode of action. We’re a small team of young engineers from Caltech & Wolfram Research, with experience in drug discovery ML models, rebuilding agrochemical R&D around AI.