Stowers Institute names first AI Fellow to advance biological research
Kansas City, MO - October 23, 2025 - The Stowers Institute for Medical Research has appointed Sumner Magruder, Ph.D., as its first AI Fellow, a new position within the Stowers Fellows Program. The role is part of the Institute's AI Initiative and centers on putting modern computational methods to work in foundational biology.
"This is very much an exciting time in biology," Magruder said. "We have more data than we know what to do with. So, just imagine the possibilities now that we can design experiments to go hand in hand with new computational methods."
Magruder brings a dual Ph.D. background in computer science (Yale University) and biology (Universität Hamburg). His training spans AI, machine learning, computational biology, and neuroscience-experience that will help bridge core lab work with scalable, explainable models.
"AI is not just a tool for efficiency; it's a driver of entirely new discoveries," said Investigator Julia Zeitlinger, Ph.D., head of the Institute's AI Initiative. "Sumner brings both the technical expertise and the curiosity-driven spirit needed to help our scientists push biology into new territory."
What this means for research teams
- Model transparency: A focus on explainability so results are interpretable, auditable, and usable across labs.
- Time-resolved biology: AI methods that infer cell-state "timelines" spanning development, aging, and disease progression, including applications to Alzheimer's.
- Signal vs. noise: Distinguishing disease-specific changes from age-related shifts to sharpen hypotheses and experimental design.
- Institute-wide collaboration: Work with 20 independent research programs and 15 Technology Centers to co-develop algorithms aligned with concrete biological questions.
"What changes are truly disease-specific and what is simply part of getting older?" Magruder explained. His current work aims to provide clearer views of how diseases emerge and progress by mapping cellular trajectories over time.
"A large part of my research isn't just in the creation of new methods, but it's also in their proliferation," Magruder said. "Making them usable so that, suddenly, it's not just me using this tool. It's the entire academic community."
"Sumner's relentless curiosity drives him to look at problems in ways most do not," said Scientific Director Kausik Si, Ph.D. "His perspective will accelerate how we approach research from new angles and ask questions that, not long ago, were out of reach."
At Stowers, Magruder will collaborate across programs and technology cores to design and deploy algorithms tuned to data at scale. The goal is straightforward: help labs extract clear, testable insights from increasingly complex datasets.
"The future of biology will be written at the intersection of data, computation, and discovery," said President and Chief Scientific Officer Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, Ph.D. "By investing in AI and this fellowship, we are ensuring that our scientists have the intellectual and technological tools to pioneer in this new era."
About the Stowers Institute for Medical Research
Founded in 1994 through the generosity of Jim and Virginia Stowers, the Stowers Institute is a non-profit biomedical research organization focused on foundational science. The Institute consists of 20 independent research programs and approximately 500 members, including more than 370 scientific staff.
Learn more at stowers.org and explore the graduate program at stowers.org/gradschool.
Media Contact
Joe Chiodo, Director of Communications
724.462.8529
press@stowers.org
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