Alumni Spotlight: Jamie Morton

Collaborations during Morton’s time as an associate research scientist at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute inspired his new startup.

A photo of Jamie Morton capturing his reflection in a mirror at home, which he’s repurposed as a makeshift whiteboard filled with equations. — Former CCM/CCB associate research scientist Jamie Morton is running an AI biotech startup, Gutz Technologies from his home office. Courtesy of Jamie Morton

While at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute from 2019 to 2021, Jamie Morton was an associate research scientist and research fellow in the Center for Computational Biology (CCB), where he focused on developing Bayesian methodologies for protein structural alignment and microbiome latent-variable modeling. He received his doctorate in computer science from the University of California, San Diego in 2018 and four bachelor’s degrees (in computer science, electrical engineering, engineering physics, and mathematics and statistics) from Miami University in Ohio in 2014.

We recently caught up with Morton to ask him what he’s been up to as he’s continued his career.

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What are you doing now?

I’m running an AI biotech startup, Gutz Technologies, that’s focused on developing biomarker diagnostics for autism. We’re using machine learning to identify early biological signatures across large pediatric cohorts.

What is one thing that you’ve taken away from your time at the Simons Foundation that helps you in your current role?

My collaboration with the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) during my time at the Simons Foundation led to our Nature Neuroscience paper, which serves as the scientific foundation of my startup. I’m very grateful to the Simons Foundation and SFARI for providing such a nurturing environment; the interdisciplinary culture and computational resources made that work possible.

What is the coolest adventure you’ve been on since you left?

Intellectually, building the startup has been the adventure — especially with how fast agentic AI is moving, it feels like the tools are finally catching up to the biology. Physically, I visited Yellowstone National Park on my honeymoon. Highly recommend.

What’s your favorite non-work memory of the foundation?

Most of my memories are work memories, but I remember them fondly — especially the Flatiron-wide conferences held each year. The Flatiron Institute is a genuinely unique, intellectually stimulating environment, and those gatherings captured that energy well.