Opentrons Robotics Network Infrastructure Becoming Core for AI-Driven Drug Discovery
NEW YORK, January 29, 2026 — Opentrons Labworks, Inc., a laboratory robotics company building the physical infrastructure for AI-driven drug discovery, today announced the promotion of James Atwood to Chief Executive Officer.
Atwood assumed the role of CEO in July 2025. He has led Opentrons’ Robotics Business Unit since April 2023, overseeing the expansion of the company’s installed base to more than 10,000 robotic systems deployed globally across academic, biotech, and pharmaceutical laboratories worldwide.
“James is the right leader to guide Opentrons as it embarks upon the exciting work to link conceptual AI to the physical laboratory world. Building on its strong robotics foundation and its growing AI expertise, Opentrons is set for realizing its next phase of growth,” said Myrtle Potter, Chair of the Board of Opentrons Labworks, Inc. “Opentrons is already benefiting from James’ deep expertise in robotics, scaling global platforms, and commercializing new technologies.”
The announcement follows NVIDIA’s selection of Opentrons as a key ecosystem partner connecting the BioNeMo™ AI platform to real-world laboratory execution. Opentrons is integrating NVIDIA Isaac Sim to train laboratory robots in simulation prior to deployment, enabling AI-designed experiments to move seamlessly from computational prediction to physical validation across Opentrons’ global robot network.
“AI can design molecules, predict protein structures, and model biological systems,” said James Atwood, Chief Executive Officer of Opentrons. “Turning those predictions into medicines still requires physical experiments — millions of them. Our work is focused on building the infrastructure that connects AI directly to the wet lab, so every experiment generates data that makes the models smarter and smarter, in less time and with higher fidelity.”
The Opentrons’ Flex® platform supports complex, multi-step workflows spanning genomics, proteomics, and automated antibody discovery and screening. The Opentrons® OT-2 platform addresses core liquid-handling applications. Together, Opentrons’ systems are deployed at every top-twenty U.S. research university and at fourteen of the top fifteen global biopharmaceutical companies.
About Opentrons
Opentrons builds laboratory robots that automate experiments for drug discovery, genomics, and diagnostics. With more than 10,000 systems deployed at every top-20 U.S. research university and 14 of the top 15 global biopharma companies, Opentrons enables a continuous learning loop between AI models and real-world experimentation. The company is backed by SoftBank and Khosla Ventures and is headquartered in New York. For more information, visit opentrons.com.
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