Arctoris launches Biophysics Centre of Excellence to bridge the AI-experimentation gap in drug discovery

Arctoris has launched its Biophysics Centre of Excellence, a major expansion of infrastructure, expertise and strategic partnerships designed to meet accelerating global demand for high-fidelity experimental data in AI-driven drug discovery.

The Centre establishes a new benchmark for industrial-scale, AI-integrated molecular interaction science. By combining a tenfold increase in capacity, exclusive access to next-generation autonomous SPR, deep methodological leadership and strategic partnerships, Arctoris delivers the experimental backbone required for the next era of drug discovery.

The investment responds directly to a structural shift in the industry: generative molecular design and AI-first pipelines are dramatically increasing the need for precise, scalable and mechanistically rich experimental validation.

10X expansion in instrumentation and data generation capacity

The Centre of Excellence significantly increases Arctoris’ throughput across surface plasmon resonance (SPR), solution-phase biophysics, protein characterisation and thermodynamic analysis. The expanded platform includes:

• Surface plasmon resonance (SPR): Biacore 8K+, Biacore T200 and exclusive early market access to the Instromeda SPRneo, a self-driving SPR platform that autonomously designs, executes and analyses experiments from a single statement of intent.
• Flow-induced dispersion analysis (FIDA Bio): Immobilization-free analysis of proteins and protein–ligand interactions in solution, enabling measurement of hydrodynamic radius, affinity, stoichiometry and aggregation under native conditions, with particular strength in membrane protein characterisation.
• Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC): Direct measurement of binding thermodynamics, enthalpy, entropy and stoichiometry without labels or immobilisation.
• Microscale thermophoresis (MST): High-sensitivity affinity quantification in solution based on thermophoretic mobility shifts.
• SEC-MALS: Absolute molecular weight and oligomeric state determination in solution.
• Prometheus nanoDSF: Label-free thermal stability and unfolding analysis using intrinsic fluorescence.
• Stunner multi-parameter protein analysis: Rapid assessment of concentration through 280 nm absorbance and hydrodynamic size, size distribution, and aggregation behavior through DLS.
• Mass spectrometry (BioAccord with ACQUITY Premier): Integrated molecular characterization workflows.

Together, these technologies enable orthogonal, quantitative interrogation of molecular interactions across small molecules, fragments, peptides and biologics.

Orthogonal validation across surface-based and solution-state techniques mitigates artefacts, deconvolutes complex binding mechanisms and enables confident progression from hit identification to lead optimization. The result is massively increased experimental data generation capacity, delivering high-quality kinetic, thermodynamic and developability datasets at the scale required for modern AI pipelines.

Exclusive early access to Instromeda SPRneo

Arctoris becomes one of the first laboratories globally to deploy Instromeda's SPRneo system. The SPRneo represents a new generation of autonomous biophysical instrumentation: a fully automated, and connected SPR system with embedded intelligence, validated in pharmaceutical and CRO environments.

The platform enables researchers to declare experimental intent while the system autonomously designs protocols, executes runs, optimizes conditions in real time, and performs live analysis.

Integration-ready APIs and SiLA2 compatibility allow seamless embedding within Arctoris' autonomous laboratory infrastructure. By combining gold-standard SPR data quality with AI-assisted execution, the collaboration advances intelligent, distributed, machine-orchestrated drug discovery.

The partnership will demonstrate closed-loop experimental optimization at scale, where SPR measurements inform real-time decision-making in AI-driven discovery workflows. This deployment marks a shift from faster execution to genuine scientific autonomy: experiments that are dynamically designed, optimized, and interpreted without human intervention.

Formal collaborations with Instromeda and SPRNexus

The Centre of Excellence formalizes strategic collaborations with Instromeda and SPRNexus to advance automated SPR workflows and next-generation data analysis frameworks. These partnerships focus on:

• Autonomous experiment design and execution.
• Standardised, high-integrity kinetic data generation at scale.
• Advanced referencing, signal processing and AI-assisted interpretation.
• Distributed, fleet-based instrument orchestration across programs.

The objective is to transform SPR from a capacity-constrained specialist technique into a scalable, autonomous validation backbone for AI-native drug discovery.

Exclusive access to cutting-edge molecular characterization via FIDA

Arctoris’ deployment of FIDA Bio introduces immobilization-free, solution-state characterization under near-native conditions. This capability is particularly powerful for weak, transient or complex interactions and membrane protein systems that challenge traditional surface-based techniques. Combined with SPR, ITC, and MST, the Centre delivers a uniquely comprehensive, orthogonal interaction profiling capability within a single integrated environment.

Appointment of Dr. Iva Navratilova as expert in residence

Arctoris has also announced the appointment of Dr. Iva Navratilova as expert in residence at the Biophysics Centre of Excellence. Dr. Navratilova is internationally recognized for pioneering the use of SPR as a primary screening platform in fragment-based drug discovery. Her work established practical workflows for large-scale SPR fragment screening, including multiple-referencing strategies and ligand-efficiency-driven hit qualification, enabling reliable detection of weak binders and reducing false positives in low-affinity regimes.

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