How AI is Changing Assisted Reproduction

Join us on April 17 in Room 100 to hear researcher Al Malecha (Associate, Haynes and Boone) present her new report, “From Algorithms to Embryos: How AI is Changing Assisted Reproduction.” The report shows how the introduction of AI in assisted reproductive technology is posing ethical and moral challenges to the field. Within the last ten years, a handful of companies have developed products that claim to use big data and image analysis to select the best possible embryo for implantation. But they often rely on poorly understood black box algorithms and are not subject to sufficient regulatory oversight.

Julia Schaletzky (Executive Director, Molecular Therapeutics Institute, UC Berkeley) and Allison Schmitt (Director, Life Sciences Law and Policy Center at the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology) will provide comments.

Lunch will be provided, we ask that you RSVP HERE in advance for planning purposes!

About Al Malecha:
Al Malecha is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice Group at Haynes Boone’s San Francisco office. Al’s practice focuses on patent prosecution, patent trials, and counseling. As a law student, Al was heavily involved in academic research, both as a member of law journals and as a researcher. Al served on the executive committees of both the California Law Review and the Berkeley Technology Law Journal.

In these roles, she spearheaded the adoption of new technologies to streamline communications, cite checking, and article formatting. She is passionate about utilizing legal scholarship as a laboratory to develop policy solutions and explore novel ideas. As a research assistant with the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology’s Life Sciences Law and Policy Center, Al worked with Allison Schmitt to lead a team of undergraduate data science students in developing a database for empirical analysis of FDA citizen petitions using publicly available data.

About Julia Schaletzky:
Julia Schaletzky is the Executive Director of the new Molecular Therapeutics Institute at UC Berkeley.  Previously, Julia served as the Executive Director of the Henry Wheeler Center for Emerging and Neglected Diseases / Drug Discovery Center at UC Berkeley.  Julia also lectures as a Professor of Molecular Therapeutics in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley, and at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

About Allison Schmitt:
Allison Schmitt is a Fellow at Berkeley Law, a Berkeley Law lecturer, and the Director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology’s Life Sciences Law and Policy Center.  Her scholarship focuses on exploring theoretical and practical issues at the interface of life sciences and the law, including IP, regulatory, and funding considerations. She graduated from Berkeley Law in 2015, and previously earned a PhD in Chemistry from Duke University.