DNA sequence models hit SOTA but wet-lab validation remains the bottleneck, experts say

anshulkundaje · x · 2026-09-09

Stanford professor Anshul Kundaje weighed in on Cathy Tie's thread about DNA sequence models: the field has advanced substantially since DeepBind (2015), and current work is close to SOTA — but nowhere near "solved."

Tie's point: 12 years ago Jungla, Deep Genomics and DeepSEA already used ML to predict variants, yet none were clinically actionable because predictions required validation from population data or functional assays. Wet-lab science remains the key to making models useful.

Both agree experimental validation is essential and a real bottleneck; the cited paper includes solid case studies.

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