---
title: "SciLifeLab seminar: Automation of research processes with LLMs and AI"
description: "Building and testing scientific workflows with LLMs and AI agents"
url: "https://phil.ewels.co.uk/talks/2025/03/06/scilifelab_ai"
site: "phil.ewels.co.uk"
author: "Phil Ewels"
section: "Talks"
type: "Invited speaker"
date: "2025-03-06"
location: "Stockholm"
event: "https://www.scilifelab.se/event/automation/"
slides: "https://phil.ewels.co.uk/talks/2025/03/06/scilifelab_ai/Ewels_scilifelab_ai.pdf"
---

# SciLifeLab seminar: Automation of research processes with LLMs and AI

> Building and testing scientific workflows with LLMs and AI agents

Invited to give a talk at a SciLifeLab DDLS event:
Automation of research processes with LLMs and AI.

## Abstract

Nextflow has become the leading tool for scientific workflows in bioinformatics, but writing workflows can be challenging. This talk introduces Seqera AI, a new tool that helps generate Nextflow pipelines either from scratch, from existing scripts, or even other workflow languages. I'll discuss how Seqera AI is able to generate best-practice DSL2 code that follows nf-core guidelines, and how we go beyond just code generation: creating and running test suites with AI agents, streamlining development while improving code quality and validation.

## Links

Interesting articles:

- BBC [AI cracks superbug problem in two days that took scientists years](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyz6e9edy3o)
- Wait But Why: [The AI Revolution: The Road to Superintelligence](https://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html)
- [Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead](https://situational-awareness.ai/)

Find out more:

- [Nextflow Podcast](https://seqera.io/podcasts/)
  - Backgorund to LLMs for Nextflow - [Episode 45: tinybio - Nextflow x AI](https://seqera.io/podcasts/episode-45-tinybio/)
  - Using Nextflow for ML workloads and research planning - [Episode 34: Nextflow in materials science](https://seqera.io/podcasts/episode-34-jakob-zeitler-materials-science/)
- [Nextflow Summit 2024](https://summit.nextflow.io/2024/barcelona/)
  - Announcing Seqera AI - [Solving the 'blank page problem' in bioinformatics](https://summit.nextflow.io/2024/barcelona/agenda/10-31--solving-the-blank-page-problem)
  - Announcing MultiQC AI summaries - [MultiQC: New features and flexible data parsing](https://summit.nextflow.io/2024/barcelona/agenda/10-31--multiqc-new-features-and-flexible)

Upcoming events:

- March 10, 2025: [Nextflow Training](https://training.nextflow.io)
- March 24, 2025: [nf-core hackathon](https://nf-co.re/events/2025/hackathon-march-2025)
- May 13, 2025: [Nextflow Summit Boston](https://summit.nextflow.io/2025/boston/overview/)
- October 27, 2025: [Nextflow Summit Barcelona](https://summit.nextflow.io/2025/barcelona/overview/)

---

From the personal website of Phil Ewels, a software developer and bioinformatician in Stockholm, Sweden: https://phil.ewels.co.uk/
The whole site as Markdown: https://phil.ewels.co.uk/llms.txt