Observed arrival · 2026-09-09
Basanos Biology Labs Puts Biological Models on the Wet-Lab Witness Stand
An independent lab proposes testing whether biological foundation models have learned mechanisms or merely statistical correlations.
Field notes
Basanos describes a causal evaluation workflow rather than another benchmark: internal features are ablated in a frozen model, and the output change is compared with biological perturbation readouts. The homepage’s miniature example uses Evo 2 and a BRCA1 deep mutational scan, contrasting approximately 0.03 movement from a block-26 sparse circuit with 0.41 from full-residual ablation. It says the broader testing framework is intended to cover DNA, protein, and single-cell models.
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