Carterra advances lab-in-the-loop drug discovery through collaboration with AstraZeneca
Bringing together scientific and technical expertise to advance development of hardware and software aimed at enabling a new wave of AI-driven, autonomous biologics discovery
14 Oct 2026
‘Lab-in-the-loop’ workflow
Carterra® has announced a research collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop hardware and software aimed at advancing lab-in-the loop drug discovery. The effort brings together scientific and technical expertise to connect laboratory systems, software, and data infrastructure with AI-driven discovery workflows.
Lab-in-the-loop – the model in which AI systems propose drug candidates, wet-lab experiments generate data to test those predictions, and the resulting data feeds back to refine the next round of AI-guided design – is a growing area of interest to the pharmaceutical industry.
A July 2026 Leerink Partners report described lab-in-the-loop as an emerging paradigm reshaping antibody discovery. A similar William Blair analysis pointed to the same shift as a driver of increased wet-lab data generation industry-wide.
Many of the largest biopharma have described efforts to link AI models directly to autonomous laboratory experimentation and to connect computational drug design with experimental validation at scale. AstraZeneca is among the pharmaceutical companies pursuing these approaches.
Central to this model is the availability of experimental data that is consistent and comparable across large numbers of experiments — something the scientific and AI communities have identified as one of the central barriers to applying AI meaningfully in structural and biophysical drug discovery.
To advance both hardware and software needed to close the loop, Carterra’s engineering and software teams are working together with AstraZeneca’s scientists and automation experts, to create laboratory systems capable of generating standardized data at scale with software designed to make that data directly usable in AI and machine learning workflows.
“Working with one of the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies to help shape the next chapter of drug discovery is exactly the kind of collaboration our industry needs,” said Josh Eckman, CEO of Carterra.
“AstraZeneca brings deep experience running biologics discovery at scale, and the willingness to commit real scientific and automation resources reflects how urgently the field is moving toward a truly connected, AI-enabled discovery loop.”
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How are Carterra and AstraZeneca advancing lab-in-the-loop drug discovery?
Carterra and AstraZeneca are collaborating on hardware and software that connect laboratory systems, data infrastructure, and AI-driven drug discovery workflows. Their goal is to generate standardized experimental data at scale and make it directly usable in AI and machine learning.
What is lab-in-the-loop drug discovery?
Lab-in-the-loop drug discovery is a model in which AI proposes drug candidates, wet-lab experiments test those predictions, and the resulting data refines the next round of AI-guided design. It links computational drug design with experimental validation.
Why is standardized experimental data important for AI-enabled drug discovery?
Consistent, comparable data across many experiments is essential for applying AI meaningfully in structural and biophysical drug discovery. Carterra’s HT-SPR™ expertise and AstraZeneca’s biologics discovery and automation experience aim to help overcome this barrier.