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The Future of Life Science is Powered by AI
Industry leaders reveal how artificial intelligence is accelerating breakthroughs in biotech and R&D.
Joseph Sampson
June 04, 2025 • 6 minutes
What’s Happening Today!
Welcome to a new & exciting daily post from That Black Chemist! Today, we’re highlighting a valuable workshop on how AI is transforming life science research and the cutting-edge tools driving this innovation.
As we know, grad school isn’t a smooth ride and I’ll be keeping it real by sharing one of the uglier moments from my experience.
Finally, we’re closing out with a throwback to a historic moment in science you won’t want to miss!
Upcoming Opportunities
BioSpace Workshop Highlights the Latest in AI-Powered Life Science Research
BioSpace—a major platform for networking and innovation in the biotech industry—is hosting an expert-led workshop on how AI is revolutionizing R&D in the life science industry.
If you’re a student or early-career professional curious about real-world AI tools used in biotech, don’t miss this opportunity!
💸 Cost: Free to attend
📅 Date: June 25th, 2025
🕰️ Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST
💼 What You’ll learn:
Real-world AI applications that accelerate research timelines.
Ways to improve collaboration and workflow efficiency in labs.
Tools for literature reviews and patent analysis.
⚠️ Bonus Opportunities You Should Know
🧪 NSF REU Summer Research Programs: List of funded undergrad research programs (Search here).
🧠 NSF GFRP Fellowship: $37,000 stipend + tuition coverage for incoming PhD students (More info).
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Scientist’s Scroll
🧑🏾🦱 Story Time: Daily Research Meetings are a Trap
If you think cramming for an exam is brutal, try cramming every day for a meeting with your advisor.
In October 2024, my PI caught me in the lab and expressed concern about my research progress. His solution? We’d start meeting every morning at 9:30 AM to go over what I’d done the day before.
For the next two weeks, I lived in survival mode trying to decide whether to wrap up experiments at 8:30 PM or fling myself in at 5:30 AM to get results before the meeting. It wasn’t sustainable.
Eventually, he dropped the meetings and recommended I “master out.”
Lesson learned: If a mentor proposes daily check-ins, pause and push for a better alternative. Don’t trade your sanity for false accountability.
Tip of the Day
⚗️ How to ACE Organic Chemistry
We’ve all heard the horror stories about how organic chemistry is the GPA killer or pre-meds everywhere. But you aren’t just any student: you’re a scientist! And here’s how you own orgo and walk out with an A:
📚 Read the textbook before each lecture. It’s your secret weapon.
🧠 Make flashcards daily for each reaction: don’t cram the night before.
⚡ Sterics and electrons rule all. Understand this, and orgo makes sense.
🔍 Mechanisms > memorization. Always ask why a reaction happens.
🏠 Office hours = your third home. Always show up and ask questions.
Today’s Theme: Throwback Thursday
The Reaction That Feeds the World
Ever wonder how we grow enough food to feed billions of people? It all started with a breakthrough in chemistry over 100 years ago.
On October 13, 1908, German chemist Fritz Haber filed a patent for the synthesis of ammonia (NH₃) from nitrogen and hydrogen gas, a reaction later scaled up by Carl Bosch for industrial use.
Why does it matter? Plants need nitrogen to grow, but atmospheric nitrogen (which makes up 78% of the air) is unusable in its raw form. The Haber-Bosch process converts that nitrogen into ammonia, the key ingredient in fertilizer.
🌾 Today, over 3.5 billion people are fed thanks to this innovation.
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