Bonnie Kruft

About

Bonnie is the Partner / Deputy Director of AI4Science and is based in Cambridge, UK. She leads a global team of machine learning researchers, engineers, domain experts and program managers working to advance an exciting new research frontier at the intersection of machine learning and the natural sciences. The team’s goal is to drive major research advances in the use of machine learning for scientific discovery, and to facilitate transformational real-world impact on some of the most pressing problems facing society including climate change, green energy, sustainable materials, and the discovery of new medicines.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Bonnie grew her career in Pharmaceutical Research & Development and brings deep expertise and experience in building, growing and leading global data and machine learning teams. Most recently she was the Head of R&D Data, Analytics and AI at AstraZeneca, responsible for the delivery of AI services across Biopharmaceutical and Oncology research. These services included an Augmented Drug Design platform and the Biological Insights Knowledge Graph, which are now being used to fundamentally change how scientists design small molecules, select drug targets, predict activities in silico, and then how best to synthesize compounds using machine learning and computational methods.

She has a PhD in Quantum Chemistry, where she applied density functional theory to explore the properties of metal-ligand interactions of siderophore-transition metal complexes and the properties of a unique tyrosyl-like radical of the Catalase Peroxidase (KatG) enzyme, the enzyme that provides virulence to the bacteria that causes tuberculosis.