Sara-Jane Dunn is a scientist working at the interface between biology and computation, using mathematics and computational analysis to make sense of how living systems process information.

Why you should listen

Sara-Jane Dunn started her career as a mathematician, finding a niche in "mathematical biology" -- a field where mathematical models and simulations provide insights into the behavior and development of living systems. For Dunn, this research opened up new ways to explore old problems, from understanding how diseases spread to how cancer evolves. To this end, she created computational models of the gut that could be used to test hypotheses about the earliest stages of colorectal cancer.
 
At Microsoft Research, Dunn collaborates with experimenters in embryonic stem cell biology and seeks to uncover the biological program that governs how these unique cells are able to generate all of the different cell types of your adult body. This work could, in time, "unlock" biology and make cells programmable, which could fundamentally transform medicine, agriculture and even how we power the planet.

Sara-Jane Dunn’s TED talk

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Live from TEDSummit 2019

Stages of Life: Notes from Session 5 of TEDSummit 2019

July 24, 2019

The penultimate session of TEDSummit 2019 had a bit of everything — new thoughts on aging, loneliness and happiness as well as breakthrough science, music and even a bit of comedy. The event: TEDSummit 2019, Session 5: Stages of Life, hosted by Kelly Stoetzel and Alex Moura When and where: Wednesday, July 24, 2019, 5pm […]

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A first glimpse at the TEDSummit 2019 speaker lineup

May 21, 2019

With TEDSummit 2019 just two months away, it’s time to unveil the first group of speakers that will take to the stage in Edinburgh, Scotland, from July 21-25. Three years ago, more than 1,000 members of the TED global community convened in Banff, Canada, for the first-ever TEDSummit. We talked about the fracturing state of […]

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