Anthropic's Claude Science autonomously generated 318,484 protein bind

Anthropic's Claude Science autonomously generated 318,484 protein binder designs in 24 hours to target deadly scorpion neurotoxins

Inside Anthropic's Claude Science environment, Claude autonomously designed synthetic protein binders targeting scorpion neurotoxins, which kill over 3,250 people annually. After a single prompt, the model worked for 24 hours and generated 318,484 candidate designs against 5 toxins from 4 species.

Claude selected 180 candidates for wet-lab testing and researchers added 31 more, bringing the total to 211 designs tested in the laboratory. Of those, 17 met the biophysical criteria for a functional binder, and the 2 strongest molecules latched tightly onto the Mexican scorpion toxin Cn2.

Two independent labs verified the binding results, and researchers Susana Vázquez Torres and Timothy P. Jenkins called it a promising step toward synthetic antivenoms. Earlier, Claude designed mini-binders against 14 of 15 targets with a 22% to 35% hit rate versus the typical 10% to 15%.