Dr. Dirk Van Hyfte
Co-Founder
IPA
Dirk Van Hyfte
Chief Technology Officer
BioStrand (IPA)
Dirk Van Hyfte MD, PhD
Chief Technology Officer,
MindWalk
Dirk Van Hyfte stands at the forefront of innovation where artificial intelligence and biology intersect. As Chief Technology Officer of MindWalk, a Bio-Native AI company, Dirk leads transformative research powered by patented HYFT® technology and the LensAI™ platform—cutting-edge tools that unify biological data for accelerated drug discovery and development.
With a degree in Medicine and specialization as a Psychiatrist from the prestigious University of Leuven in Belgium and a PhD in medical artificial intelligence from Nijmegen University, Dirk combines deep clinical knowledge with pioneering expertise in computational science. Dirk’s expertise extends beyond the realms of technology and business. His entrepreneurial vision is reflected in the creation of iKnow, a natural language processing platform acquired by InterSystems, a global data technology leader, in 2010.
Dirk’s leadership has positioned MindWalk as a driving force in explainable and scalable biological AI, moving the field toward an era where biology itself computes, learns, and reveals new therapeutic frontiers.
At AIDDD 25, Dirk Van Hyfte and Holly Soutter will share insights on reprogramming the entire drug discovery process, presenting the HYFT® breakthrough that enables biology to "compute itself"—making complex biological connections explainable, accessible, and actionable for the first time. This session will explore:
- Reprogramming Discovery: How AI-native platforms are reshaping how scientists interact with biological data and design new therapies.
- The HYFT® Breakthrough: Unveiling a novel computational approach that decodes universal biosphere patterns, unlocking unprecedented discovery potential.
- The Frontier of Explainable AI in Biology: Transcending black-box models to deliver clarity, transparency, and trust in AI-powered biological research.
Judges
Hamid Rategh
Venture Technology Director
Samsung Catalyst Fund
Hamid Rategh is a Venture Technology Director at the Samsung Catalyst Fund, Samsung Electronics’ evergreen multi-stage venture capital fund that invests in deep-tech infrastructure and data-enabled platforms. Investments span across multiple domains including data center and cloud, artificial intelligence, networking and 5G, automotive, sensors, quantum computing and beyond.
Hamid was the co-founder of Tavanza and held executive and leadership roles in a range of startups and public companies developing products in wireless communication, copper and optical interconnects, memory interface, and Biotechnology. Prior to joining Samsung Catalyst Fund, Hamid was Senior Vice President of Engineering at Genapsys, developing a DNA sequencing platform. Before that Hamid held several leadership roles at Inphi. Hamid holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Madison Faulkner
Partner
NEA
Madison is a Partner at NEA investing in early-stage infrastructure, data, developer tools, and AI and she also leads the data and AI platform internally for improved investment decision-making. Across her investing career, she has worked with startups including World Labs, Factory, Delphina, Ceramic, Metabase, Mindtrip, Fixify, and others. Prior to investing, Madison was Head of Data Science and Machine Learning at startup Thrasio, Head of Data Science at Greycroft, and led a data science team at Facebook focused on the ad auction and deep learning with FAIR. Madison received a BS in Engineering from Stanford and grew up in Colorado performing in rodeos. She spends free time advising entrepreneurship organizations at Columbia, UW and Stanford and working towards a pilot's license.
Aditi Purandare
Investor
Hitachi Ventures
Aditi is an investor at Hitachi Ventures, covering the entire digital stack from the infrastructure layer to the application layer. A computer engineer by training and a Fulbright alum, she has previously worked in applying AI and data science to various verticals.
Richard Curtin
Managing Partner
Silicon Catalyst
Yeonseok Kim
CEO
Zetic
Tushar Shah
CPO
Uniphore
Shriram Revankar
CTO
Dolby