Ross D. King

Also known as Ross King, Ross Donald King

Ross King is a machine intelligence researcher who builds robot scientists, laboratory systems that use artificial intelligence to form hypotheses, run experiments and learn from the results. He studied microbiology at Aberdeen and computer science at Newcastle, then earned a 1989 PhD at the Turing Institute at the University of Strathclyde on machine learning for protein structure prediction. At Aberystwyth University, he led the research behind Adam, which researchers described in Science in 2009 as the first machine to independently discover new scientific knowledge, and a 2018 study reported that his robot Eve had found triclosan to be a potential malaria treatment. A move to the University of Manchester in 2012 and another to Chalmers University of Technology in 2019 followed, and in 2026 a Chalmers team with King as senior author rebuilt Eve with large language models and automated reasoning. He is a professor at Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg, where his research covers robot scientists and DNA computing.

Now at: Chalmers University of Technology, University of Gothenburg and University of Cambridge
Works: 384
Citations: 10,863
h-index: 50
Badges: Founder
Bridge
Wayfarer

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

1983–1989

Microbiology to machine learning

He earns a BSc in microbiology at the University of Aberdeen in 1983 and an MSc in computer science at the University of Newcastle in 1985. His PhD, completed in 1989 at the Turing Institute at the University of Strathclyde, develops machine learning methods for protein structure prediction.
2000

Co-founding PharmaDM

In 2000, he is a founder of the spin-out company PharmaDM, which develops data mining tools for the pharmaceutical industry. The company draws largely on research applying data mining to bioinformatics and chemoinformatics.
2004

A robot scientist in Nature

In 2004, he starts building the robot Adam to study enzymes in yeast. He is first author of a 2004 Nature letter, written with Stephen Muggleton, Douglas Kell, Stephen Oliver and others, that describes a robotic system which originates hypotheses, runs experiments with a laboratory robot, interprets the results and repeats the cycle in yeast gene-function work.
2009

Adam discovers new knowledge

In April 2009, a Science paper from Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge presents Adam as a robot scientist that its researchers believe is the first machine to independently discover new scientific knowledge. He leads the research at Aberystwyth's Department of Computer Science. Adam hypothesises that certain genes in baker's yeast code for specific enzymes, then devises and runs experiments with laboratory robotics to test the predictions.
2012–2019

Manchester and Eve's malaria finding

He leaves Aberystwyth University, where he has worked for 15 years, for the University of Manchester in January 2012. In 2018, a Scientific Reports study reports that Eve, the second robot scientist he created to search for malaria drugs, found triclosan, a common ingredient in toothpaste and soap, to be a potential treatment for malaria.
2019–2021

Eve and Genesis at Chalmers

He leaves the School of Computer Science at Manchester in 2019 for Chalmers University of Technology. In 2021, Eve is assembled at Chalmers' Division of Systems and Synthetic Biology, where it takes on a search for covid-19 drugs with Per Sunnerhagen of Gothenburg University. Meanwhile, the new robot scientist Genesis, funded by the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program and designed to better understand how human cells work, is under development.
2026

Eve rebuilt with language models

In 2026, Chalmers researchers rebuild Eve with large language models and automated reasoning as a closed-loop AI scientist for brewer's yeast, in a study in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface with King as senior author. Eve works from about 60,000 public scientific records on yeast and comes up with almost 2,000 testable ideas about how nutrients affect cell growth and stress.
As of October 2026

Professor at Chalmers

He is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology and the University of Gothenburg. His research covers robot scientists, which combine AI with laboratory robotics, and DNA computing, and he also holds a joint position at the University of Cambridge, listed under its Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology.