Alpha Lee: An Open Source COVID Moonshot

After seeing the impact of the SARS pandemic as a child in Hong Kong, Alpha Lee dedicated his life to science. Studying mathematics and biology at some of the most prestigious universities in the world, Alpha has now turned his attention to an area ripe for disruption, preclinical drug discovery.

Alpha had just arrived in the bay area for the startup program Y Combinator when the lockdowns for COVID starting. Having been through this before, Alpha knew what he needed to do. Alpha decided to use the technology he had been developing to find promising compounds to fight coronavirus and then open source it. Alpha received thousands of submissions and now the most promising of those are being developed in a lab in the UK. Alpha's message throughout all of this? Let's not waste the opportunity, this time.

Resources we discussed:

https://postera.ai/covid

https://www.alpha-lee.com/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/covidmoonshot

https://covid19-hpc-consortium.org/projects/5e8be82df1a9290078584cf4

Om Podcasten

Out of the Crisis, a podcast hosted by myself, Eric Ries, highlights leaders from all sectors who are providing and coordinating relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. No one is more heroic than the healthcare workers and those on the frontlines treating the sick. But there’s also a role for others, particularly those in positions of privilege, to play in this crisis. As I’ve worked to make my own contributions, I’ve crossed paths with many different people and organizations offering their skills, expertise, and resources to get aid to essential workers and the sick. I created this podcast to share these inspiring stories in real-time, but also as a call to action. If you think you can help, do. If you want to help but don’t know how, the people in these episodes will guide you towards ways to get started. They’re helping to lead us through and eventually out of the crisis and offering tools for joining the effort.