Lucas approaches biology as a system of recursive processes spanning from macro to nanoscale, too complex for intuition alone. Viewing life through the lens of computation, he became convinced that biological systems can be made programmable by reverse-engineering and controlling their functions. He shifted from CS to bioengineering to advance regenerative medicine and create novel biological capabilities. During his PhD research on brain-computer interfaces and neural engineering, he experienced firsthand how experimental complexity and biological variability limit reproducibility.

The solution? Biology must be engineered systematically, which is impossible without automating laboratory and manufacturing workflows. Current systems rely on fragmented processes with partial automation and heavy manual setup, making progress slow, costly, and fragile. A biological compiler will transform natural language goals into self-optimizing workflows and enable in-house production across the biological supply chain.

Lucas joined Calculus after working in PhD research environments where rigid disciplinary lines and paper-chasing slowed progress. Traditional institutions favor manual labor over scalable automation and block fast, infrastructure-first engineering. Building autonomous systems for biological discovery demands a different environment.

During his time at Calculus, Lucas will demonstrate an autonomous lab pipeline capable of continuously optimizing bio lab workflows.