The Anthropic set up a biology laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area to conduct physical experiments and expand the use of Claude in scientific research beyond computer simulations. The existence of the facility was revealed by Reuters and confirmed by the company's head of life sciences, Eric Kauderer-Abrams.
The space functions as a wet lab, a laboratory prepared for handling and testing biological materials. According to Kauderer-Abrams, part of the work will be done in-house and part will continue with external partners, a model similar to the one adopted by biotechnology companies.
Anthropic stated that the laboratory is not dedicated exclusively to drug discovery. Still, the operation is part of a broader expansion by the company into life sciences, an area that is already among the company's largest investment fronts in personnel and resources.
Claude is expected to operate equipment and perform experiment steps
One of the goals is to test how far Claude can control laboratory robotic systems and participate in the execution of experiments with limited human intervention, according to a person familiar with the project who spoke to Reuters. The company says that human supervision and participation will remain essential for safety.
The initiative connects to the Model Hardware Standard, a specification introduced by Anthropic in August to allow AI agents to operate physical equipment from different manufacturers. The system was designed to integrate instruments such as microscopes, liquid handlers and robotic arms, allowing agents to coordinate experiment steps and adjust parameters during execution.
In practice, the combination gives Anthropic an infrastructure to test a more complete research cycle: the model can help formulate hypotheses and analyze data digitally, while automated systems perform part of the work needed to verify those hypotheses in the physical world.
The company had already been expanding the use of Claude in scientific research. The Claude Science, launched in beta, was developed as a work environment for scientists and has an initial focus on areas such as biology and biomedical research.
Anthropic rules out clinical trials for now
The company intends to concentrate its efforts on stages prior to the clinical development of drugs. Kauderer-Abrams said that Anthropic does not plan to conduct clinical trials at this time, in part to avoid competing directly with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies that bring drugs to market.
The company also expanded life sciences researchers' access to its models this week. The new Life Sciences Verification Program allows verified organizations to use versions of Claude with safeguards adjusted for biology tasks, including drug discovery, research, clinical development and manufacturing.
The physical laboratory adds a new layer to this strategy. Instead of limiting Claude to literature analysis, programming, bioinformatics or simulations, Anthropic is now testing how its models can participate directly in the execution and validation of biological experiments.
