Highlights from the 2026 Datapoints Summit: AI x Tech in Drug Discovery

On September 16, 2026, we had the incredible opportunity to host the Datapoints Summit at the Ginkgo Event Space in Boston's Seaport. Gathering visionaries across biopharma and tech, the day was dedicated entirely to a singular, transformative theme: the intersection of Artificial Intelligence and Drug Discovery.

It was an inspiring day of networking, lightning talks, and deep-dive panels. For those who couldn't attend—or for those who want to revisit the insights shared—we are thrilled to share some of the core highlights and the video recordings from the event.

Key Themes & Highlights

The summit showcased how rapidly AI and machine learning are moving from conceptual promise to practical reality in life sciences. Throughout the day, our speakers covered incredible ground:

• Agentic AI in Drug Discovery: We explored how autonomous AI agents are reshaping scientific workflows, featuring insights from leaders at NVIDIA, Benchling, and Takeda.
• The Power of Genomics and Sequence Diversity: Talks included fascinating dives into high throughput functional genomics screening in human neurons with Novartis, scaling sequence diversity via the Dayhoff Atlas with Microsoft Research, and AbbVie's approach to quantitative genomics.
• Simulating Biology & Biomolecular Modeling: Speakers from insitro, Deep Origin, Biohub, and Boltz debated what models can—and currently cannot—replace in the lab, while pushing the boundaries of accurate biomolecular design.
• Overcoming Bottlenecks & Silos: From discussing the ADME bottleneck in small molecule discovery to the critical role of secure federated learning networks (courtesy of Apheris), the community tackled the industry's toughest data and optimization hurdles head-on.
• New Models for Discovery: Lilly TuneLab shared their innovative models for scaling the drug discovery ecosystem.

Watch the Recordings

We've uploaded the recordings from the sessions so you can catch up on the lightning talks and panels you missed. You can access the summit video files directly here:

Watch the Summit 2026 sessions

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Boston, and a special thank you to our featured speakers for sharing their groundbreaking work. We look forward to continuing to build the future of AI-driven drug discovery together.