Anthropic released findings from its life sciences research group on September 23, 2026, stating that Claude autonomously identified a novel enzyme system with properties resembling CRISPR. It is the company's first major contribution to biological research since establishing its dedicated lab in the spring of 2026.
Anthropic reported that Claude analyzed 210 million tokens across 950 agents to identify a repeating DNA pattern associated with an unusual reverse transcriptase, a process that took 21 hours. That compares with the typical weeks to months required for human experts to perform similar genomic analysis.
Claude's discovery is based on reverse transcriptase enzymes found in a jumbo phage, with the system marked by an array of non-coding DNA sequences and an unknown accessory protein. Availability of the findings began with the release of a pre-print paper, initially for the broader scientific community.
"This is an exciting example of how AI agents can contribute to biological discovery," said Feng Zhang, a professor at MIT and the Broad Institute. "The identification of RNA-repeat arrays associated with reverse transcriptases is genuinely intriguing and merits further investigation."
The announcement follows the formation of Anthropic's life sciences research group in the spring of 2026. Anthropic did not say what the exact function of the enzyme system is, and the primary function of the system remains under investigation. The work to understand the primary function of ARTs is ongoing.
Source: anthropic
