Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s AutoDNA lab lets AI agents run DNA experiments

A Nature paper describes a multi-agent system that designs and executes DNA work from one prompt, with humans mostly restocking supplies Researchers at Shanghai Jiao Tong University have built a lab where the scientists are mostly software. The system, called AutoDNA, uses a team of AI agents to design and carry out DNA experiments from a single typed instruction. Humans still have a job. It just looks more like stocking shelves and fixing machines than running experiments. The work is described in a paper published in Nature this week, dated November 4, 2026. How AutoDNA works Think of AutoDNA as a small research group in which every member is an AI agent with a specialty. One person types a request in plain language. The agents then split up the planning and execution between them. On the physical side, robotic arms shuttle samples from one machine to the next. The system can run more than 20 types of laboratory equipment. That matters because DNA work is rarely a single step. A single project can stretch into thousands of individual operations, including both synthesizing DNA and sequencing it. The human role is narrow by design. People top up reagents, the chemical ingredients ...