CHALLENGE 01
Not yet announced
Sep 28 – Oct 4
Protein Design Competition
Use AI to design new drug candidates across five challenges, each focused on a disease or biological mechanism.
Anthropic and Adaptyv are jointly sponsoring $1 million in experimental validation to test more than 5,000 protein designs in Adaptyv’s automated lab, at no cost to participants. Anthropic is providing an additional $1 million in Claude credits to selected teams and researchers. All experimental results will be published openly on Proteinbase.
Open to everyone and free to enter
Loading protein structure
$1M in Claude credits
Sponsored by Anthropic, with additional compute provided by Modal
$1M in wet lab validation
Sponsored by Anthropic & Adaptyv, with DNA provided by Twist
5,000+ proteins
Synthesized and characterized in Adaptyv's automated lab
01 /
Five challenges
From September 28 to October 31, a new challenge is released every week.
CHALLENGE 02
Not yet announced
Oct 5 – 11
CHALLENGE 03
Not yet announced
Oct 12 – 18
CHALLENGE 04
Not yet announced
Oct 19 – 25
CHALLENGE 05
Not yet announced
Oct 26 – 31
Targets and requirements are published when each problem opens.
September 28 — October 31
02 /
How to Participate
TRACK 01
Research labs and companies
For teams with significant protein design experience.
Up to $50,000
in Claude credits for academic teams
- Up to $25,000 in credits for industry teams
- Approximately 20 teams selected
- Reserved lab testing for selected teams: up to ~18 designs per challenge
Apply
Applications close September 24
Eligibility & details
For labs and companies with significant protein design expertise and experts in at least one competition problem area. Apply as a team using an institutional or company email. An authorized institutional support letter may be required. Selected teams are pre-allocated lab testing for up to approximately 18 designs per challenge. Designs must meet the competition requirements.
TRACK 02
Individual researchers and small teams
For affiliated individuals or teams of up to three.
Claude Max 20x
complimentary access during the competition
- Individuals or teams of up to 3 researchers
- Active institution or company affiliation
- Designs considered for wet-lab testing
Apply
Applications close September 24
Eligibility & details
For individual researchers and teams of up to three who are actively affiliated with an institution or company. Apply with your institutional or company email. Anthropic selects support recipients; applying does not guarantee support. There is no guaranteed testing allocation.
TRACK 03
Open track
For participants outside Tracks 1 and 2.
Self-supported
use your own tools and compute
- For eligible participants outside Tracks 1 & 2
- Use Claude or any other design tools
- Designs considered for wet-lab testing
Competition starts September 28
Eligibility & details
Adaptyv’s open track welcomes eligible participants who are not in Track 1 or Track 2. Claude use is optional and Anthropic credits or subscriptions are not included. Designs are considered for testing through the jointly agreed selection process, without a guaranteed allocation.
03 /
Competition schedule
SEPTEMBER — DECEMBER 2026
- 1
SEP 16–24
Applications
Applications for Claude support are open.
- 2
BEFORE SEP 28
Teams notified
Anthropic notifies selected support recipients.
- 3
SEP 28–OCT 31
Five challenges
Five consecutive design and submission windows.
- 4
BY NOV 30
Experimental validation
Selected designs are made and experimentally tested.
- 5
DEC 15
Results published
Experimental data is published on Proteinbase.
Planned schedule, subject to change. Exact challenge window times will be announced before the competition begins.
04 /
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to use Claude?
You can enter the open track with any design method. Using Claude for competition-related work is a condition of receiving Anthropic support in Tracks 1 and 2.
How do the five challenge windows work?
Problems are revealed one at a time between September 28 and October 31. Each submission window lasts roughly one week, with the final window closing October 31. Submit before that window closes; submissions for that problem close when the next window begins. Exact opening and closing times will be published with the competition schedule.
Will every submission be tested?
No. Anthropic and Adaptyv will select designs for wet-lab testing using a Claude-based workflow. The exact workflow will be made public after the competition. Selection will not rely on a single in silico metric. All designs must be reviewed by the submitting researcher before submission. We encourage participants to submit the designs they think will fare best experimentally and to describe their methods and design choices in detail. Teams selected for Track 1 have a reserved testing allocation of up to approximately 18 designs per challenge. Tracks 2 and 3 have no guaranteed allocation.
Who owns the designs, and what becomes public?
Participants retain ownership of their designs. For tested designs, results are published openly on Proteinbase, including sequences, predicted structures, design methods, and experimental measurements. Negative results are published too, so the whole community can learn from the experiments.
Is there a prize?
The competition won’t have a cash prize, but there will be special non-cash prizes. We’ll announce the details soon.