Anthropic opens life-sciences guest investigator call: 8 to 12 weeks with Claude on causal human biology and drug discovery
Synopsis
Anthropic has opened a call for guest investigators in the life sciences, inviting principal investigators and their groups at academic institutions, nonprofits, or government labs to work directly with Anthropic researchers for 8 to 12 weeks on causal human biology, structural and computational molecular biology, medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, and clinical science using Claude. Anthropic runs its models and harnesses at no cost, outputs are published jointly with open-source data and code, and guest investigators retain rights to their data throughout. Applications are open for about 14 days, with selections expected by email roughly 14 days after the close.
Interpretation
Life-science teams can now apply to become Anthropic guest investigators and work directly with Anthropic researchers for 8 to 12 weeks on a biology or drug-discovery problem of their choosing. Earlier support for scientists came mainly through the AI for Science initiative, which provides Claude credits, and the Life Sciences Verification Program, which offers access to the most capable publicly available models for biology; the new element is a fixed-term collaboration with joint outputs and open-source requirements. The call targets principal investigators and their research groups at academic institutions, nonprofits, or government labs, and Anthropic runs its models and harnesses at no cost during the collaboration.
The analyses, artifacts, and tools produced will be published together with Anthropic, and the accompanying data and code will be open-sourced. Guest investigators are not asked to hand over their data, and application materials should contain only publicly available information. Guest investigators retain the rights to their data at every step of the project, as well as rights to any independent follow-on research that may come out of the collaboration.
Applicants must explain how direct collaboration with Anthropic researchers would benefit them and make a reasonable case that outputs can be produced within the 8- to 12-week period. Anthropic acknowledges that results for most open problems will take much longer to validate, so it asks only for preliminary evidence within a relatively short time. Acceptable outputs include preliminary discoveries, answers to open questions, open-source datasets, or public resources, and some projects may have an option for extension beyond the initial period.
Perspective
The call targets principal investigators and their research groups at academic institutions, nonprofits, or government labs, with an 8- to 12-week collaboration and possible extension for some projects; application materials should contain only publicly available information.
Anthropic states that results for most open problems will take much longer to validate and therefore expects only preliminary evidence within a relatively short time; the application window is about 14 days, selections are expected by email roughly 14 days after the close, and whether the effort expands will depend on what is learned.