Christopher D. Bahl, MS, PhD

Chris Bahl is the President, CEO and Founder of AI Proteins, Inc. He obtained his BS from the University of Maine in three years with dual majors in Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology and dual minors in Chemistry and Microbiology, followed by a MS in Biochemistry one year later, also from the University of Maine. Chris did his PhD in Biochemistry with Prof. Dean Madden at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. As a postdoctoral fellow with Nobel Laureate Prof. David Baker at the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design, Chris pioneered the ability to computationally design miniproteins de novo. Following this, he joined the Institute for Protein Innovation as one of the founding faculty members, with co-appointments at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Chris resigned from his position in academia in 2021 when he founded and joined AI Proteins, along with the members of his academic research group.

Chris is dedicated to spreading knowledge and providing mentorship. He founded the Boston Protein Design and Modeling Club in 2017 and continues to serve as a co-organizer, and he co-founded and co-organizes the Latin American Workshop on Artificial Intelligence for Protein Design. Chris became a TED Fellow in 2019, he volunteers with Nucleate to mentor biotech startup founders, and he has been a climbing instructor for the Washington Alpine Club and Appalachian Mountain Club in the past. He served on the Executive Council of the Protein Society, and currently serves on the Executive Board of the Rosetta Commons Foundation. Additionally, Chris is a Technical Advisor for IMPRINT Labs, LLC and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Applied Photophysics Ltd, BioLoomics Inc. and previously served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Vestaron Corporation and OncoPep, Inc.

curriculum vitae

Recorded talks and presentations

• De novo designed miniproteins are an ideal modality for solving challenges in Africa, Introduction to Protein Design for Africa, The Protein Society, 2026

• Designing Proteins to Cure Disease, Imagine Solutions Conference, 2026

• The Secret Language of Cells — and How to “Speak” It, TED, 2025

• AI Proteins: Breaking the Wall to AI-driven Protein Medicines, Falling Walls Science Summit, 2024

• Better medicines, created rapidly through de novo protein design, Boundary-Breaking Science Symposia, Bayer Foundation, 2024

• De novo designed miniproteins have big potential for therapeutic development, The Boulder Peptide Foundation Virtual Symposium, 2022

• De Novo Design of G Protein Mimetics, Writing The Future, Twist, 2021

• The Future of Medicine, Inspire Speaker Series, 2021

• A new type of medicine, custom-made with tiny proteins, TED, 2019

• The first steps toward large scale experimental benchmarking of Rosetta design protocol performance, Winter RosettaCon, 2019

• Discovery and engineering of enhanced SUMO protease enzymes, RosettaCon, 2018

• De novo design of antivirulence therapeutics based on genetically encodable, hyperstable constrained peptides, UW CHemE Distinguished Young Scholars Seminar, 2017

Podcast appearances

• BiotechTV, The Studio at Kendall Square

• The Chain Protein Engineering Podcast, interview with Derek Lowe and interview with Martin Pacesa

• Machines and Molecules

• The Pulse Podcast

• Next Sequence

• System76 Transmission Log

• Slice of Healthcare

• Slice of Life Sciences Real Estate

• Entrepreneurship & Leadership Podcast

• Impact Talks