Grantmaker · Funders · Emeryville, CA (residency hub and headquarters referenced by Astera)
Astera Institute is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) science and technology philanthropy focused on accelerating research by funding and building “public goods” for scientific and technological progress—non-proprietary infrastructure, tools, datasets, playbooks, and standards. Its mission emphasizes rebuilding the “machinery of science” so that scientific outputs are more efficient, scalable, and open, including experiments in how science is funded, conducted, and communicated.
Programmatically, Astera combines (1) in-house and resident-style institution building (a Residency program intended to seed open science and public goods), (2) open-science policy work (including publishing alternatives and standards for scientific utility and machine-readiness), and (3) targeted initiatives and competitions to elicit and finance concrete improvements to research workflows and information sharing. A key current strategic position is Astera’s partnership with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) within the NSF Programmable Cloud Laboratories (PCL) Test Bed initiative: NSF announced a $380M inaugural investment across 20 awardees, with Astera contributing up to $20M in matched investment plus additional support aimed at open science practices, reusability/reproducibility, and machine-readable scientific outputs. This represents Astera’s direct engagement with federal funding mechanisms for automated/AI-enabled laboratory infrastructure and the associated data and publishing ecosystem.
Today, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a partnership with the Astera Institute related to the first round of investment in building a national network of automated laboratory infrastructure, known as the Programmable Cloud Laboratories (PCL) Test Bed Initiative. T
What Scientists Said: Results from Astera’s First Essay CompetitionAstera recently hosted its first essay competition, focused around metascience. This competition was always more about starting a conversation than finding a bunch of perfect solutions. We wanted to hear from working researchers, not policy experts or administrators, about the st
The Data Problem Killing Drug DiscoveryPat Walters | Chief Scientist, OpenADMET The post The Data Problem Killing Drug Discovery appeared first on Astera .
Radial Supports The Deliverome ProjectBuilding the missing data layer for precision medicine delivery The post Radial Supports The Deliverome Project appeared first on Astera .
Spinning a new future with programmable fibersProteins are the programmable manufacturing material of the future. The post Spinning a new future with programmable fibers appeared first on Astera .
Astera announced its partnership with NSF in relation to the first round of investment for building a national network of automated laboratory infrastructure (Programmable Cloud Laboratories, PCL Test Bed), describing NSF’s $380M spend across 20 awardees and Astera’s “up to $20M” matched investment plus additional support for open science practices.
What Scientists Said: Results from Astera’s First Essay CompetitionAstera published results and takeaways from its first essay competition focused on metascience/structural bottlenecks, including quantitative notes on submissions and how Astera handled open posting requirements for entries.
The Data Problem Killing Drug Discovery (OpenADMET)Astera published a perspectives-style piece tied to OpenADMET, describing the relevance of data problems to drug discovery and how Astera frames data collection and publishing as an accelerator for AI-ready scientific information.
Radial Supports The Deliverome Project Building the missing data layer for precision medicine deliveryAstera posted an update describing Radial-supported work connected to the Deliverome Project, positioned as building a data layer intended to support precision medicine delivery workflows.
Announcing Radial, Astera’s new life sciences divisionAstera announced the launch of Radial, stating it will be led by Becky Pferdehirt as CEO, and describing a commitment to expand build-test-learn approaches for scientific infrastructure and practices; the post also points to Radial-related hiring and programs/competitions.
A new Astera Resident investigates not just how transformative fusion could be, but what would have to be true to get there. The post Mapping the path to one cent electricity appeared first on Astera .
Astera described an initiative inviting scientists to share concrete research challenges around structural/systemic bottlenecks, connected to the organization’s essay-competition and open-science-oriented approach.