01
You
Your bioengineering background, your research project, and the questions you've spent months wanting to answer. You bring the depth.
Universa AI Academy/Pilot Program
Bioengineering
Cohort 01
9 students. 14 days in Cusco, Peru. July 23 – August 5, 2026. AI-accelerated research paired with a daily meditation practice — for students ready to bring their work to a turning point.
$2,300 USD per student, fully covered — accommodation, meals, mentorship, and platform access. Flights not included.
Dates
Jul 23 – Aug 5
2026
Location
Cusco, Peru
Sacred highlands
Cohort size
9 students
Bioengineering only
Program value
$2,300
Covered by Universa
What is Universa AI Academy
Three forces working together over 14 days.
Human depth, AI-scale computing power, and mental clarity — an engine for progress none of them could achieve alone.
02
The Synapse AI Scientist
A private research workspace with specialized AI assistants working continuously across the 14 days — the breadth that turns weeks of manual searching into hours.
03
A daily meditation practice
Guided by an experienced facilitator to quiet mental noise and create the calm, spacious focus where new connections surface.
The platform
What the Synapse AI Scientist can do for a bioengineering project.
Specialized assistants work continuously across the full 14 days — turning weeks of manual searching into hours of structured, auditable research.
- 01
Continuously review scientific literature
Prioritizes peer-reviewed sources and biomedical databases, organizing findings into structured, referenced pages — with multi-round verification before anything is written.
- 02
Predict & visualize 3D structures
Pulls known structures from RCSB PDB and AlphaFold, or runs prediction models like ESMFold, rendered in an interactive in-browser viewer.
- 03
Surface decision questions
When research needs human judgment, it logs a question for you and your mentor — then launches a follow-up pass once you answer.
- 04
Draft experiment cards
Proposes concrete next steps — objective, rationale, open questions — ready to review in the project's Laboratory.
- 05
Maintain an auditable record
Every claim is documented and traceable to a real source, exportable as a PDF report at the end.
Where breakthroughs happen
The insight rarely arrives while the mind is analyzing.
Edison dozed in a chair holding a steel ball over a tray. The moment sleep loosened his grip, the ball fell, woke him, and he caught the idea that had just surfaced.
Mendeleev saw the periodic table in a dream. Otto Loewi designed his Nobel-winning experiment while asleep. The pattern repeats: the breakthrough arrives not while the mind grinds, but in the calm — sleep, rest, effortless silence.
Science rarely treats these moments as method. The problem isn't that it doesn't work — it's that there's no infrastructure to cultivate it and make it rigorous. That's what we built.
Location & logistics
Cusco, Peru. One place for deep work.
Accommodation, dedicated research areas, and a room for meditation — one place, no distractions, designed for moving between deep work, mentorship, and contemplative practice.
Who this is for
Bioengineering students with an active research project.
Advanced undergraduate or graduate, with a thesis, capstone, or line of research that needs to move forward substantially. No prior meditation or AI experience required.
We look for committed people — an honest desire to advance research, not a vacation or a line for a CV. Projects that could benefit Peru's communities are especially welcome.
What we're looking for
A real, ongoing research project with open questions worth accelerating.
Comfort with the ambiguity of frontier research.
A willingness to document the whole process — what makes it research, not a personal experience.
Openness to a contemplative practice. No prior meditation experience needed.
Genuine interest in a small community of nine bioengineering researchers.
The program
The 14 days
Each day combines AI-assisted research, mentorship, and contemplative practice — the AI handles search and synthesis, so your time goes to the thinking only a human can do.
Days 1–3
Research design & baseline
01- Orientation to the AI Scientist platform and setup of the individual workspace
- Hypothesis formulation based on each student's research project
- Introduction to the program's meditation practice
- First AI analysis of the current state of the project's literature
Days 4–10
Iterative research
02- Daily AI-assisted findings extraction and research page updates
- Refinement of research questions based on what emerges
- Prediction and 3D visualization of molecular structures (for projects that require it)
- Guided meditation sessions integrated into the program
- Peer review sessions with the rest of the cohort
- Responding to the AI's decision questions, with academic mentor support
Days 11–14
Synthesis
03- Full review of generated documentation, with final AI analysis
- Closing meditation practice for integration
- Drafting research summary outlines
- Collective synthesis of findings across the cohort
- Setup of 90 additional days of SynapseCore access after the program
What you take with you
You leave with real progress on your research.
Not a story about how Cusco changed your life — but work you can keep building on.
- 01
A refined research question, built from computational analysis and your own reflection.
- 02
Structured documentation of the whole process — logs, AI-extracted patterns, links to literature.
- 03
Draft summaries ready to become thesis chapters, papers, or proposals.
- 04
90 more days of SynapseCore access to keep advancing your project.
- 05
A meditation practice you can keep on your own.
SynapseCore · 3D viewerESMFold ✓
Why 14 days
Enough time for a dedicated AI agent to advance weeks of literature review — and for a daily contemplative practice to start generating real clarity — without putting your studies or life on hold for a full month.
This first cohort is a pilot, testing one hypothesis: that an AI research agent and a daily contemplative practice, sustained over 14 intensive days, can match the progress of much longer programs. Cohort 01 gets priority access to future cohorts as the format expands.
Facilitation team
Academic rigor, contemplative depth, and care for the group.
The team combines academic mentorship in bioengineering, meditation facilitation, and general wellbeing support throughout the stay.
Academic mentorship
Bioengineering Faculty
Bioengineering guidance connecting the AI platform's findings to the methodological rigor of each project.
Meditation facilitation
Contemplative Guide
Guidance for the program's meditation practice, with training in contemplative methods.
Program coordination
Program Coordinator
Logistics support, general group wellbeing, and liaison with the SynapseCore platform.
What's included
$2,300 USD per student.
Fully covered by Universa AI Academy for the 9 participants in Cohort 01. You arrange your flights; we handle everything on the ground.
Included
- 14 nights of accommodation in Cusco
- Full meals — breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Full SynapseCore AI platform access during the program, plus 90 days afterward
- Guided meditation sessions
- Dedicated workspace and connectivity for research
- Academic support and bioengineering mentorship throughout the 14 days
Not included
- Airfare (domestic and international)
- Travel and health insurance
- Personal expenses
- Local ground transportation in Cusco during the program
How to apply
We read every application personally.
The statement of interest matters more than your CV. 9 spots · July 23 – August 5, 2026 · Cusco, Peru.
- 1
Research statement of interest
500 words max — describe your current project, the question you want to advance, and why this program could make a difference for your research.
- 2
Selection conversation
A 30-minute conversation with the Universa AI Academy team.
- 3
Academic review
A brief academic review of the research project (may include a letter of support from your program or thesis advisor).
- 4
Selection
Selection of the 9 participants for Cohort 01.
- 5
Pre-departure preparation
SynapseCore platform orientation, recommended readings, and travel logistics.
Application · Cohort 01Open in new tab ↗