Anthropic Confirms Bay Area Wet Lab for Biology Experiments

Anthropic has a wet biology lab in the San Francisco Bay Area, and its head of life sciences confirmed it this week to TechCrunch.

"We believe that to do biology, the final test is still, and will be for a while, in real lab work," said Eric Kauderer-Abrams, Anthropic's head of life sciences. "We absolutely are doing that today."

The company has not disclosed the lab's size, staff count, opening date, or biosafety level. Kauderer-Abrams said the focus is fundamental biology rather than drug discovery, and that some biological work still goes to outside partners. Asked how far the lab has gone toward letting machines run experiments, he said the company is "in the very early innings." On biosafety, he said, "we're always balancing these things."

The lab sits on top of an acquisition. In April, Anthropic paid approximately $400 million in stock for Coefficient Bio, a stealth startup with fewer than ten employees. Life sciences is now among Anthropic's largest operational areas by headcount and spending, and recent recruiting includes a procurement lead and a biochemical specialist. Novo Nordisk, Genentech and Bristol Myers Squibb are named Claude Science customers, and Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan joined Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust in April.

Alongside the lab confirmation, Anthropic launched a Life Sciences Verification Program this week, giving vetted biology researchers access to its most advanced models. It is the third Anthropic story we've logged in the last two days, alongside the company's $1B pledge with Accenture to embed AI evaluators.