A biology cloud lab turning plain English into experiments - CLAIRE opens remote access to community colleges (NSF award $4.9M)
The U.S. National Science Foundation awarded Boston University $4,898,741 to build a self-driving laboratory for biology that translates plain English instructions into automated experiments.
Grant overview (primary data)
- Award amount$4,898,741 / Est. total $19,999,558
- RecipientTrustees of Boston University (Massachusetts)
- ProgramPCL-Programmable Cloud Labs
- Period2026-08-01 〜 2030-07-31
- FunderU.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) / NSF
Key points
- The subject is a cloud laboratory for biology that translates plain English instructions into automated experiments.
- It lowers the barrier not by making equipment faster but by shortening the path an instruction takes to reach it.
- Subsidised remote access is to be offered to dozens of institutions including community colleges and undergraduate institutions.
- Materials made with open-source protocols are to be distributed so similar facilities can be built nationwide.
- Access control policies and biosecurity checkpoints sit inside the pipeline, designing openness and control together.
- Of the 120 NSF awards this site holds as of 2026-09-02, 11 fall under the same programme, totalling about $45.79 million.
1How instructions are written becomes the barrier
Using automated laboratory equipment means writing procedures in a form the equipment understands. Learning that notation is itself a barrier before any experiment begins. That the award speaks of translating simple English instructions into real automated experiments reads as lowering that barrier. It is not about making the equipment faster but about shortening the path an instruction takes to reach it.
2Opening it to those without equipment
The abstract names democratising science as one pillar, offering subsidised remote access to dozens of institutions. It also speaks of distributing materials made with open-source protocols so that similar facilities can be developed nationwide. Opening equipment gathered in one place and multiplying the same equipment across many are placed side by side in one award.
3Biosecurity inside the same framework
- 1Access remotelyAccess control policies are defined
- 2Check what is being runBiosecurity checkpoints are passed
- 3Execute automaticallyIt runs as an end-to-end bio-foundry pipeline
- 4Return resultsOperated as a pipeline from end to end
Opening biological experimentation to remote users cannot be separated from the question of who is able to make what. That the award states it maintains the highest biosecurity standards and places access control and checkpoints inside the pipeline reads as designing openness and control together.
4Eleven sites under one programme
Of the 120 NSF awards this site holds as of 2026-09-02, eleven fall under this programme, totalling about $45.79 million. Materials design, semiconductors and biology - each site varies its subject while testing a shared foundation.
Why it matters
Making laboratory equipment usable remotely by the hour changes how capital investment is weighed in early research across drug discovery, materials and bio-manufacturing. Whether to hold instruments depends on utilisation and on how far remote facilities cover the required steps. At the same time, running experiments remotely comes with access control and content review, so users of external facilities are also expected to keep records and be able to account for what they ran.
FAQ
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Who can use it?
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Sources (primary)
Source: NSF Award Search (U.S. National Science Foundation, public domain). Amounts are the obligated amount. For privacy, we do not handle principal investigator names.
- NSF Award (original, official)
- NSF Award ID: 2607506