Raphael Townshend
Researcher · Founder
Now Founder, Atomic AI
Latest on AI4S.fyiTimeline · Dec 14, 2023Atomic AI's ATOM-1 preprint: an RNA model trained on chemical-mapping data it measured itselfAccount linked from raphael.tc.com · Avatar from their X account, taken 2026-09-28
Affiliations
About
Raphael Townshend is the founder and chief executive of Atomic AI, which he started in 2021 to apply machine learning and structural biology to RNA drug discovery. He did his PhD in computer science at Stanford (2014-2020) with a thesis on geometric learning of biomolecular structure, including a 2021 Science paper on deep learning of RNA structure, and interned on DeepMind's AlphaFold team in 2019. He holds a BS in electrical engineering and computer science from UC Berkeley.
Read on 2026-09-29; for current roles see Affiliations above. Read at: raphael.tc.com ↗
Selected work
- Geometric deep learning of RNA structure ↗
ARES, a geometric deep learning model that scores candidate RNA 3D structures.
Each byline was read on the paper itself. Only people on this record are named, not the full author list, and a shared byline does not say who did which part.
Founded
Atomic AIDrug discovery · 2 rounds on record · disclosed $42M · Series A $35MBackground: Stanford University, computer science (ARES RNA structure work in Science, 2021) (as the company's own announcements put it)
Backed byPlayground Global8VC
On the timeline
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