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Inside baseball: The founder’s guide to funding health and science organizations
Successful fundraising isn’t just about logic; it’s about trust, your vision and your ability to manage the process
Announcing Radial, Astera’s new life sciences division
Today, Astera Institute is launching Radial, a division which reimagines how life sciences research happens at a systems level. Radial will be led by Becky Pferdehirt as CEO. We are committing up to $500M over the next decade to expand our build-test-learn approach to scientific infrastructure and practices. How we fund, do, and build upon […]
Identifying Systemic Bottlenecks to Science
Today, alongside the launch of Radial, we are opening an essay competition that I’ve been ruminating on for some time. Namely, inviting active scientists from any sector to share concrete research challenges that can inform our future work at Astera. We’re interested in your hypotheses about what broad structural or systemic issues contribute to the bottlenecks you […]
From systems operators to systems architects
Going up a level from data generation to think about the data systems we design and embed
Understanding intelligence: Simplex views on complex systems
A conversation with Adam Shai and Paul Riechers, co-founders of Simplex
A night sky full of living worlds
A conversation with Astera Resident Edwin Kite on applied planetary science, applied astrobiology, and what it would take to terraform Mars
How we get to an abundant future
A perspective from Eli Dourado, Astera’s Head of Strategic Investments
Scientific Publishing: Enough is Enough
Why we’re no longer funding journal publications
Reflecting on — and for — our Future
A conversation with Astera Resident Dakota Gruener on uncovering answers and driving action on how we can address our rapidly warming climate
Announcing Radial, Astera’s new life sciences division
Today, Astera Institute is launching Radial, a division which reimagines how life sciences research happens at a systems level. Radial will be led by Becky Pferdehirt as CEO. We are committing up to $500M over the next decade to expand our build-test-learn approach to scientific infrastructure and practices. How we fund, do, and build upon […]
Identifying Systemic Bottlenecks to Science
Today, alongside the launch of Radial, we are opening an essay competition that I’ve been ruminating on for some time. Namely, inviting active scientists from any sector to share concrete research challenges that can inform our future work at Astera. We’re interested in your hypotheses about what broad structural or systemic issues contribute to the bottlenecks you […]
Dileep George joins Astera to lead its neuro-inspired AGI effort
Dileep George is joining Astera as Head of AI, leading our AGI research division. Working alongside our Chief Scientist Doris Tsao, he and the team will explore novel, brain-inspired computational architectures to accelerate the development of safe, efficient and aligned AGI. Astera will continue to support this effort with over $1 billion in committed resources […]
Sharpening Astera’s focus
Important science and technology development often falls through the cracks of public funding and private markets, i.e. work that may be high impact but risky, requires long timelines, or involves unpopular ideas. These areas are ripe for philanthropy. And as AI ushers civilization toward an event horizon, we need more people working on the hardest […]
Neuroscientist Doris Tsao joins Astera to lead its new neuroscience program
The Astera Institute is excited to launch a major new neuroscience research effort led by Dr. Doris Tsao, who will be joining as Chief Scientist for Astera Neuro. We seek to understand one of the deepest mysteries of science: how the brain produces conscious experience, cognition, and intelligent behavior. Astera will support this effort with […]
