Anthropic: Claude Helps Map the First Prokaryotic Vault Particle Structure; Purification in ~90 Minutes, First Model in ~34 Hours
On November 4 Anthropic's biology team reported that Claude helped determine the first 3D vault structure from a prokaryotic/phage system (protein L05). Vendor-reported timing: ~90-minute purification and a first model in ~34 hours, plus an open discussion of mistakes and the multi-agent research workflow.

Key Takeaways
- Official Anthropic research: Claude helped determine the first 3D prokaryotic/phage vault structure (protein L05)
- Vendor-reported timing: purification cut from ~3 days to ~90 minutes; first model ready in ~34 hours
- L05 forms a ~9.5 MDa shell of 96 chains with ~25% more volume than mammalian vaults
- Anthropic also discloses failures: a medium additive cost ~2 weeks; an early cryo-EM map was mirrored
- For developers: a concrete case of a science multi-agent harness with human oversight, not biology trivia











