Reimagining Genomic Discovery with Natural Language and Personal Purpose

At MassChallenge, we’re inspired by founders who transform personal experiences into world-changing innovation. Alex Kotlar, Founder and CEO of Bystro AI, is doing just that. Combining genetics, programming, and personal experience, he built Bystro to simplify biomarker discovery through conversational genomic tools.

A Mission Born from Crisis

Alex’s journey began with a harrowing escape from environmental disaster. As a Ukrainian refugee, he and his family fled the aftermath of Chernobyl—a formative experience that left an enduring concern for health and disease. Years later, when multiple family members were diagnosed with cancer within months of each other, that concern became a calling.

He was in a business program while battling his own health issues, and decided to become a scientist, exclaiming, “I’m going to cure cancer.” When he was accepted into graduate school, he then decided to pursue a PhD in genetics. 

Making Science Conversational

During his PhD pursuit, Kotlar realized something troubling: even the brightest researchers were struggling to make sense of the massive, complex datasets available to them. The disconnect between scientific questions and computational tools was slowing discovery.

This gap between the user and the data became the core problem Bystro AI set out to solve. Traditional interfaces demanded specialized programming knowledge—putting crucial insights out of reach for most biologists.

“The people with the great scientific questions in biology really weren’t the people that could talk to the system, to the data.”

With Bystro, Kotlar and his team created a natural language interface that allows users to pose complex biomedical questions and instantly retrieve actionable genomic insights.

Finding the Right Environment to Grow

For a founder more focused on building than boasting, MassChallenge offered something critical: an ecosystem that fosters experimentation, learning, and community. Here, Alex found the support he needed to let Bystro’s potential flourish.

“What I found in MassChallenge is that there is this kind of safe space for ideas to flourish, even when the idea isn’t 100% there.”

What’s Next for Bystro

“One of the challenges with projects like ours is that there’s a great temptation to go too broad, too fast.”

With strong traction in the academic space, Bystro is now exploring how to scale sustainably and enter adjacent markets. For Alex, the focus is on thoughtful growth—not rushing broad adoption without a firm foundation.

Hear more from Alex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EGwGshaKW8