On October 22, 2026, Anthropic announced an open call inviting members of the life sciences community to apply for a short-term guest investigator program. The invitation targets principal investigators and their research groups at academic institutions, nonprofits, or government laboratories who wish to use Claude on focused projects.
Eligible topics and applicants
Anthropic seeks proposals in areas including causal human biology, structural and computational molecular biology, medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, and clinical science. Applicants should be able to explain clearly why direct collaboration with Anthropic researchers would benefit their work.
Format and duration of collaborations
Selected guest investigators will collaborate directly with Anthropic researchers over an 8–12 week period on a specific problem of interest. The collaboration is intended to produce analyses, artifacts, or tools that are most useful to the research group. Anthropic will run its models and associated infrastructure for the projects at no cost to participants.
Data and intellectual property
Guest investigators retain rights to their data at every stage of the project and keep the right to conduct independent follow-on research arising from the collaboration. Anthropic is not requesting participants’ data for the application or during the collaboration; applicants are asked to include only publicly available information in their submissions. Outputs from the collaborations will be published and the associated data and code may be open-sourced.
Timeline and selection
Applications will be open for approximately 14 days. Anthropic aims to notify selected participants by email approximately 14 days after the application window closes.
Expectations and possible extensions
Anthropic is looking for proposals that can generate some preliminary evidence or deliverables within the 8–12 week collaboration window (for example, early discoveries, answers to open questions, open-source datasets, or public resources). The company acknowledges that full validation of many scientific problems typically requires much more time, but seeks projects that can show measurable progress in a relatively short period. Some projects may have the option to extend beyond the initial collaboration period.
Related Anthropic initiatives
This program is one of several steps Anthropic is taking to increase investment in life sciences and the broader research community. Scientists who want direct access to Anthropic’s most capable publicly available biology models can apply to the Life Sciences Verification Program. Anthropic also continues to support researchers through its AI for Science initiative, which provides Claude credits to accelerate scientific progress.
Closing note
Anthropic says it may expand and adapt the program over time as it learns how best to support the scientific community.
