Join us as we tackle your chemistry challenges live with the El Agente team on November 24

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Researchers are developing AI tools for chemistry at an unprecedented rate. From drug discovery to property forecasting, to mapping complex molecules and how they interact, the age of artificial intelligence has truly emerged.

El Agente is one of these tools. Developed by the Matter Lab and the Acceleration Consortium, El Agente is a state-of-the-art, large language model (LLM) powered multi-agent framework designed to automate and accelerate scientific research. This powerful tool is democratising computational science with an easy to use interface allowing researchers to accomplish complex tasks without extensive programming or software experience.

In this webinar, we are putting El Agente to the test. Join the El Agente team for an interactive webinar exploring how AI agents can support research in chemistry and materials science.

Audience members are invited to submit questions through the registration form. These may involve a molecule, material, reaction mechanism, computational workflow or challenging transition state. Using El Agente Quntur, Gráfico and Estructural, the team will select several questions and demonstrate how El Agente approaches them.

Questions will be chosen based on scientific relevance and what can reasonably be addressed during the webinar. For additional submissions of particular interest, the team will prepare follow-up videos showing El Agente working through the problem, together with an interactive HTML report documenting the methods, intermediate steps and results.

Examples:

  • Investigate the IR, UV, and Raman spectra of a series of organic molecules
  • Evaluate small-molecule binding to transition-metal complexes relevant to investigating a given catalytic activity
  • Screen metal-organic frameworks containing an X node and a Y ligand for methane or other gas adsorption
  • Identify plausible transition states for the reaction of A and B leading to product C

Ask us anything. Bring challenging chemistry and materials problems and see how El Agente tackles them. You can submit questions via the registration form or by sending us an email at chemistryworld@rsc.org.

Varinia Bernales

Portrait of Varinia Bernales, principle investigator at El Agente, pictured on a grey background

Varinia is an assistant professor of computer science and chemistry at the University of Toronto, Canada, and research director of the Matter Lab, where she develops an autonomous research agent framework that empowers computational and experimental chemists to use self-driving laboratories for molecular and materials discovery. Her research sits at the intersection of quantum chemistry, machine learning and scientific automation, with a distinctive emphasis on AI safety, alignment, and governance in scientific settings. She develops frameworks and tools that enable trustworthy autonomous decision-making across catalysis, sustainable materials and chemical safety. She earned her PhD from the University of Chile and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Minnesota, US, before holding research leadership roles at Dow Chemical Company and the Underwriters Laboratories Research Institutes. She has authored numerous publications and patented technologies and has been recognised as a Great Minds in STEM Luminary and a Chemical & Engineering News Trailblazer.

 

Alán Aspuru-Guzik

Portrait of Alan Aspuru-Guzik, principle investigator at El Agente, pictured in front of a blackboard

Alán is a professor of chemistry and computer science at the University of Toronto, Canada, a 150 Research Chair in theoretical chemistry, and a CIFAR AI Chair at the Vector Institute. He directs the Acceleration Consortium, advancing self-driving laboratories that integrate AI, robotics and automation for autonomous discovery. He began his academic career at Harvard University after earning his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, US. His research spans quantum information, machine learning, chemistry, and materials discovery, including quantum algorithms, generative molecular models, and autonomous experimentation for energy and electronic materials. He is a co-founder of startups including Zapata AI, Kebotix, and Axiomatic AI, and editor-in-chief of Digital Discovery. He is recognised for pioneering closed-loop, AI-driven scientific discovery systems and has received major honours in quantum computing and computational chemistry, including fellowships from APS, AAAS and the Royal Society of Canada, as well as the AI2050 award.

 

El Agente Team

Portrait of the El Agente team

The El Agente team is a multidisciplinary research group based in the Matter Lab  at the University of Toronto and working closely with the Acceleration Consortium. The group brings together more than 20 undergraduate researchers, 15 PhD students, 15 postdoctoral researchers, and 5 staff scientists with backgrounds in chemistry, physics, materials science, artificial intelligence, robotics, and scientific computing. Drawing on their scientific training, the team develops agentic systems grounded in rigorous domain expertise across molecular and materials modelling, computational chemistry, optimisation, scientific knowledge systems, laboratory automation, and AI safety. Our goal is to democratise advanced scientific workflows by making them accessible, automated, and reproducible. El Agente team has open positions for research stays, generously supported by the Schmidt Science Program, for undergraduate and graduate students from Latin America who want to learn about and contribute to the development of AI agents for science. To learn more about El Agente and apply, please visit elagente.ca.

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