Jacob Trefethen (@JacobTref) / X

Jacob Trefethen

1,955 posts

Jacob Trefethen

@JacobTref

OpenAI Foundation science!

San Francisco, CA

Joined June 2015

Pinned
Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Apr 8
Alzheimer’s is one of medicine's hardest unsolved problems, and one of the most devastating. At the OpenAI Foundation, we believe AI is well suited to its complexity. We're directing over $100M to scientists mapping the disease, designing drugs, & more. I wrote about it here:
AI for Alzheimer’s
From openaifoundation.org
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Aug 3, 2025
I just released an essay series on a topic I've been thinking about, on and off, for a few years: What does AI progress mean for medical progress? Many people working on AI dream it will help cure cancer and prevent disease. I wanted to create a more specific roadmap:
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Feb 3, 2024
I started a blog about scientific research and science funding. You can subscribe on the site to receive future posts as emails. Here’s the first one. Society is not focused on some of the most important technical problems:
10 technologies that won't exist in 5 years
From blog.jacobtrefethen.com
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Feb 7, 2025
NIH, NSF, and other public research are a small part of the federal budget (1%ish), and generate a dollar of GDP for cents of spending. That makes the rest of the 99% easier to pay for, with surplus to spare. Golden goose.
Matt Clancy
@mattsclancy
Feb 7, 2025
New post! Looking at three recent papers on the productivity impacts of government funded research, both in the US and OECD. Across different methods, all find positive impacts.
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Aug 30, 2023
There are around 48 million kids eligible for preventive drugs during malaria seasons. In 2013, hardly any kids got the drugs. In 2023, almost 100% will:
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Feb 7, 2025
I started a blog 1 year ago, to write about important technologies society is not on track to build. But I've ended up writing as much about policy as science (links below). Inventors need a well functioning NIH, NSF, FDA, USAID, PEPFAR, to make things that matter. Package deal.
Alec Stapp
@AlecStapp
Feb 3, 2024
"Half of these problems rarely affect rich people, so there is not much money supporting product development. With an extra $10 billion over 10 years I’m pretty sure we’d get to 5 or 6 of the 10 on the list, and millions of unnecessary deaths would be prevented." @JacobTref
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Oct 9, 2024
We at @open_phil have been proud supporters of Baker since 2017. Extremely well deserved. Congratulations to everyone at @UWproteindesign! Several other foundations provided support throughout the years too. Flexible philanthropy is great for people/problems who break NIH boxes.
The Nobel Prize
@NobelPrize
Oct 9, 2024
BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 #NobelPrize in Chemistry with one half to David Baker “for computational protein design” and the other half jointly to Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper “for protein structure prediction.”
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Jan 13, 2025
New post on the big two U.S. science funders: the NIH and NSF. Here are 5 reforms that don't require more money, & could be implemented now. The arguments/evidence lean on the metascience community & personal lessons over the years in science philanthropy
The NIH and NSF
From blog.jacobtrefethen.com
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Aug 24, 2025
Proud supporters of this at @open_phil after we saw @mfgrp’s wild paper on it a few years ago. Much left to figure out! Chasing down “big-if-true” findings like this is a good fit for science philanthropy, since donors can move quickly, flexibly, reactively vs govt grant cycles
Patrick Collison
@patrickc
Aug 24, 2025
Saw a talk this week on the trippiest thing: bacterial cultures on skin induce immune responses. At Michael Fischbach's lab, they demonstrated immunizing mice against tetanus by just dabbing an engineered version of a harmless staph culture on its head. Unlike intramuscular
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Jun 20, 2024
This trial took place in South Africa and Uganda. It would not have been possible to run in the U.S., because HIV incidence is lower, so the effect would not have been detected. Global health R&D helps Americans!
Saloni
@salonium
Jun 20, 2024
Big result in HIV antiviral development statnews.com/2024/06/20/hiv…
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Sep 20, 2024
New post, taking a break from science blogging. The topic is something that has often puzzled me about philanthropy: why is there so little of it?
Effective nonprofits
From blog.jacobtrefethen.com
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Feb 23, 2025
My biotech friends universally want to talk to FDA staff *more*, not less. Now bracing themselves for meetings getting delayed, emails slower to answer... We just fixed this over the last 30 years! “review times shortened by 3.3 months for every 100 additional FDA staff."
Alex Tabarrok
@ATabarrok
Feb 22, 2025
Government regulation, not staffing, is the real problem. Cut regulation, and staff cuts can follow. Cut staff without cutting regulation, and the morass only gets worse. marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolu…
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Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Jul 17, 2018
Replying to @juliagalef
Umm @hrlomax, this sounds both exactly like you and exactly like Oscar, so...
Jacob Trefethen
@JacobTref
Jun 10, 2025
Science writing from the last two years that stuck with me: (1/many)
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