SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Anthropic has opened a wet lab in the San Francisco Bay Area as the artificial intelligence company expands its work in biology and life sciences.
Eric Kauderer-Abrams, Anthropic’s head of life sciences, confirmed the facility to Reuters. The lab allows researchers to conduct physical experiments rather than relying only on computer-based biological modeling.
Anthropic plans to use AI and laboratory automation to support preclinical research, including work on diseases that receive limited commercial investment. A company spokesperson said the facility does not specifically focus on drug discovery.
“We believe that to do biology, the final test is still and will be for a while in real lab work,” Kauderer-Abrams told Reuters. He said Anthropic remains in the early stages of using AI to automate laboratory experiments and will continue to involve human researchers.
The company has expanded its life-sciences business over the past year. In June, Anthropic launched Claude Science, a research platform that connects scientific tools, databases and computing resources in one workspace.
Anthropic has also acquired biotechnology company Coefficient Bio for about $400 million in stock, according to Reuters, and added Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan to its board earlier this year.
The company is also working with research organizations including the Allen Institute and Howard Hughes Medical Institute to apply Claude to biological research and scientific data analysis.
Anthropic has not disclosed which diseases its wet lab is studying or when any research from the facility could advance beyond the preclinical stage. The company said it does not currently plan to run clinical trials.
