Grantmaker · Funders · Berkeley, CA · Est. 2020
Astera Institute is a 501(c)(3) private foundation (founded in 2020) working to “steer science and technology towards an abundant future” by funding and operating science-infrastructure and other public goods that aim to accelerate scientific and technological progress. It frames its work around rebuilding the machinery of science—especially how scientific outputs are generated, structured, shared, and reused—rather than focusing only on traditional journal-centric research funding.
Astera currently operates through three main divisions: (1) Neuro-AI research (directed neuroscience and AI research), (2) Radial (its life-sciences program that “designs, funds, and operates programs” at a systems level), and (3) an Astera Foundation team that provides centralized operational/financial support and leads its Residency program and other philanthropic/investment activities. A distinctive aspect of Astera’s operating model is its emphasis on experimentation with “how science is done” and on open-science practices (including constraints around journal publication as a use of Astera funds/time). This shows up across multiple program lines, including Radial’s open-data and open-platform efforts (e.g., OpenADMET, The Deliverome Project, and development of The Stacks) and Astera’s Residency program, which is designed to fund early-stage, open-first public goods creation.
No curated programs yet. Check the careers page ↗.
And some early outcomes from the residency so far The post Introducing Astera’s New Residents appeared first on Astera .
Radial Doubles Down on Dynamic Structural Biology with ‘Prism’Last summer, Astera’s life science division, Radial, launched a project aiming to reimagine how biologists study protein motion experimentally. Proteins are in constant motion, and this motion drives their function. But today, much of structural biology only captures static snaps
Astera Partnering with the National Science Foundation to Support Open ScienceToday, 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 .
Mapping the path to one cent electricityA 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 .
Announcing Radial, Astera’s new life sciences divisionToday, Astera Institute is launching Radial, a division which reimagines how life sciences research happens at a systems level. Radial will be led by Becky Pferdehirt as CEO. We are committing up to $500M over the next decade to expand our build-test-learn approach to scientific
Identifying Systemic Bottlenecks to ScienceToday, alongside the launch of Radial, we are opening an essay competition that I’ve been ruminating on for some time. Namely, inviting active scientists from any sector to share concrete research challenges that can inform our future work at Astera. We’re interested in your hypo
Astera described Radial’s expansion from DiffUse to Prism, the project’s goal of making protein motion measurable/actionable/predictable, and Prism’s organizational and open-science approach; it also includes budget re-commitment details.
Introducing Astera’s New Residents (third cohort) and early residency outcomesAstera announced its third cohort of residents, describing the program’s public-goods focus, providing examples from earlier cohorts, and introducing new residents with projects and roles.
Astera Partnering with the National Science Foundation to Support Open ScienceAstera reported on an NSF partnership related to first-round investment in the Programmable Cloud Laboratories (PCL) Test Bed Initiative and states its matched contribution and additional support/expertise to advance open science practices.
What Scientists Said: Results from Astera’s First Essay CompetitionAstera shared results and takeaways from its first metascience essay competition, describing the scale of submissions, thematic categories, and the set of winning/cash-awarded researchers.
The Data Problem Killing Drug Discovery (OpenADMET perspective)Astera published a perspective explaining ADMET as a data bottleneck for drug discovery and describing OpenADMET’s approach to generating consistent public datasets and running blind prediction challenges, with Radial support.
Radial Supports The Deliverome ProjectAstera announced $5M seed funding to The Deliverome Project, describing the nonprofit’s aim to create an open-source, multimodal atlas of proteins on the surface of human cells to address targeted-delivery bottlenecks in precision medicines.