Key points from article :
A new biotech startup, Stately Bio, is aiming to revolutionize how scientists study living cells—without killing them. Founded by Frank Li, a former machine learning lead at Calico Life Sciences, the company has emerged from stealth mode with $12 million in seed funding led by AIX Ventures. Instead of using invasive techniques or complex tagging methods, Stately relies on machine learning (ML) to interpret simple brightfield microscope images of live cells—what Li refers to as “grade-school microscopes.”
Li’s background is in tech, not biology. After working at Palantir and Google X, he joined Calico, where he discovered the potential of computer vision for biological imaging. His team achieved over 99% accuracy in a NeurIPS competition analyzing cell images, revealing just how much biological information these images contain—far beyond what the human eye can perceive.
Stately’s technique uses ML to link cell shapes and textures with their biological functions. This approach, while lower in resolution than competitors like Eikon Therapeutics, allows them to observe far more cells at once, creating large datasets that fuel powerful algorithms. In early tests, their method improved the differentiation of stem cells into liver cells by up to 10 times over traditional techniques.
Beyond cell transformation, Stately is also developing predictive models that forecast experimental outcomes within days—potentially saving time and resources in the lab. While it hasn’t yet disclosed its full research pipeline, Li sees great promise in using lab-grown liver cells for future cell therapies targeting liver disease.
