biotech research teams

Abstract: Foundation models have progressed from learning and reasoning over existing knowledge, to increasingly learning through action, tool use, and outcome feedback. We argue that the next frontier is a further transition: from solving and acting within problems specified by humans to participating in the process by which new problems, representations, explanations, and knowledge are created. We refer to this capability as Discovery Intelligence. We formulate Discovery Foundation Models (DFMs) as general-purpose model systems for open-ended discovery. A DFM operates over a revisable research state and supports seven coupled capabilities spanning problem discovery, formulation, representation construction, hypothesis formation, intervention, evidence-grounded revision, and continual discovery improvement. We instantiate this framework with Zetema, which couples explicit research-state dynamics, verification and experimental gating, external grounding, and cross-task Discovery Skill evolution. We further ground the framework with GALILEO, a real therapeutic-discovery system in which Dry-Lab reasoning, robotic and hands-on Wet-Lab experimentation, external biological evidence, and iterative hypothesis and design revision form a closed physical discovery loop. We then formulate a unified approach to capability formation and process-centered evaluation, enabling discovery behavior to be trained, improved, and measured beyond final-answer performance. Together, these components establish discovery as a learnable, executable, and evaluable capability of foundation-model systems. We view this shift as a broader progression in intelligence scaling: from learning over existing knowledge, to learning from action outcomes, and ultimately to participating in the construction, testing, and revision of the structures through which new knowledge is discovered. Code: https://github.com/Gen-Verse/DFM-Plans

Abstract: Scientific agents contribute to hypothesis discovery by synthesizing evidence, assessing proposals, and developing new explanations. Recent systems combine scientific agents with evolutionary search through critique, comparison, and revision. However, how different forms of agent collaboration affect hypothesis quality remains an open question. Answering this question requires separating the effects of agents' scientific capabilities from those of their collaboration. A framework must therefore preserve agents' scientific roles and support rules for combining, revising, and retaining hypotheses. Building on this view, we introduce HypoEvolve, which makes collaboration explicit through successive updates to a hypothesis population. Specifically, we propose a generational genetic algorithm to coordinate specialized large language model (LLM) agents that integrate mechanistic arguments, reconsider assumptions, and assess evidence and testability. Each generation specifies how scientific judgments and new proposals reshape the population, making collaboration effects on hypothesis quality directly testable. Moreover, we design our evaluation around scientifically meaningful hypotheses that explain how a proposed intervention could work. Drug repurposing links these explanations to target-level biological claims assessed against external evidence. Specifically, we adapt DepMap and Open Targets into complementary external measures grounded in experimental, genetic, and clinical evidence. Across 34 cancer types, HypoEvolve achieves the highest scores against six baselines on both measures. DepMap selectivity reaches 0.171, versus 0.115 for the strongest baseline. Gains over single-pass generation also generalize to held-out cancer types. HypoEvolve advances a vision of autonomous science in which AI research teams achieve a capacity for discovery beyond that of individual models.