Medra, which programs robots with AI to conduct and improve biological experiments, has raised $52 million to build what it says will be one of the largest autonomous labs in the United States. Medra CEO Michelle Lee joins Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow on "Bloomberg Tech."

Medra has announced a $52 million funding round to accelerate the development of its AI-driven robotic systems for laboratory automation. The company's technology allows scientists to interact with robotic arms using natural language, enabling them to design and execute experiments at scale without relying solely on engineers.

Medra is collaborating with leading biopharma firms, including Genentech, to implement its 'lab in the loop' approach, where machine learning teams propose experiments and AI robots carry them out. The new funding will support team expansion, partnerships, and the establishment of an autonomous lab with 100 robots to generate experimental data for drug discovery.

Medra raises $52 million to speed drug discovery with AI robots

When you and I first met a few years ago you had an idea and a concept. Now you have a company moving forward with that. I think actually it's a start. Let's explain why having that degree of interaction with what is a robotic arm in that lab environment through natural language is necessary. What does it solve for. Yeah. So we want to give scientists directly not just engineers with scientists directly the ability to actually run experiments at scale. And that is why we are building the physical A.I. scientists physical A.I. that allows to allows them to automate their scientific experiments at scale and also the A.I. scientists so they can talk to it. They can co-pilot design experiments with this A.I. scientist. What is it that you bring that others haven't in terms of the physical A.I. Is it your data that's paramount to none. Is it the fact that your scientists are paramount to none. Is it the technical technology. What is it. It is all of those things and more industrial automation has been the key way that life sciences has automated their labs. But we are seeing a huge paradigm shift across every industry that is using robotics where industries are shifting away from industrial automation to physical A.I. and that is also what measure is bringing to life science. The ability to flexibly automate their lab experiments instead of using brittle lab automation technologies from before. When I think about this I review the photos and images. I hope we have some images to share with our audience. I think a little bit about Tony Stark and Jarvis. It's the idea that there is there is an artificial intelligence that one interacts with through the robotic mechanism. When we first spoke in this long time ago now this was about like efficiency like labs are difficult environments. It's hard to move around them. Takes physical strength and time. You know the 52 million dollars a lot of money. You know you just click your fingers and you can suddenly do it. You've solved it. No I mean we have so much more to be building because again it's not just about automating the work but about this idea. Can we automate science itself. Can we have a scientific A.I. that can reason about the science generate hypotheses design experiments. And when we actually run the experiments with our physical A.I. once that data is generated can we take that data. And then can we think about what are the new optimizations and changes necessary to make that science better. We started the conversation by introducing this as a in the context of drug development of the life science fields. What is the industry there and therefore your customer. Yeah. So we are working with some of the leading biopharma companies including Genentech to help them use our technology to really create this lab in the loop idea. And we are working with some of the best machine learning teams at our customers where their machine learning teams can then propose new experiments. They want to run new ideas. They want to test. And then again our physical scientists can take those ideas those predictions and turn that into data that then feeds back into their machine learning models. There's 52 million. Where is it going to be spent most predominantly talent marketing. Well all of those again all of those above. We are we are growing our team and expanding our team across engineering robotics A.I. hardware software and also on operations and go to market. We're expanding partnerships with other biopharma companies. And also we will be building our own lab. We'll be opening up an autonomous lab with 100 robots next year to be able to run experiments and generate data at scale. Do you think the U.S. is leading him Michelle. We want to be leading and Medra is going to be that force that helps the U.S. lead in this in this area.

For the first time, Amnesty International has accused Hamas and its allies of committing crimes against humanity, following an investigation into the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The organization found that 1,221 people were killed and said the mass killing of civilians amounted to extermination.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Amnesty accuses Hamas of 'crimes against humanity' for Oct. 7 attack

The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Rise of AI

Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as person of the year for 2025

Message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday (December 12) asking Australia's High Court to overturn the country's social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.

Council of the City of Sydney

Reddit sues to overturn Australian social media ban

As tensions rise with Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said land operations could start "pretty soon." Sources tell CBS News the administration is also planning more tanker seizures.

Washington

Trump says Venezuela land operations could begin 'pretty soon'

One day after capturing an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, the U.S. has sanctioned three of Nicolas Maduro's nephews, along with six other oil tankers.

Trump ramps up pressure on Maduro with new sanctions

The EU has decided to keep the assets of the Russian Central Bank immobilised for the foreseeable future. The ban, which is based on a provision for economic emergencies, pushes back against external attempts to release the €210 billion in assets before Ukraine is compensated.

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honor.

Caracas

Nobel peace laureate Machado vows to take award home to Venezuela

Japanese authorities are assessing damage after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, followed by multiple aftershocks. In response, officials have issued a warning about the possibility of a megaquake, defined as a magnitude 8.0 or higher event.

Tokyo

Japan alerts citizens about possible megaquake

A Maryland judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody. Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and was later detained for potential deportation to another country.

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate release from ICE custody

About 500,000 people are fleeing renewed clashes on the Thailand-Cambodia border. Over a dozen were killed as fighting shatters a US-Malaysia-brokered peace deal amid a decades-old temple land dispute.

Samraong

Half a million flee as Thailand-Cambodia border clashes escalate

The U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.

Trump confirms seizing of Venezuelan oil tanker

The U.S. House has approved a bill to end all Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, sparking cautious optimism in Damascus as the measure moves closer to becoming law.

U.S. House votes to lift Caesar Act sanctions on Syria

Myanmar's military bombs a hospital in western Rakhine state, at least 31 people are killed and dozens injured.

Rakhine

Air strike in Myanmar killed at least 31 people, dozens injured

The U.S. military seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the ship had been used to violate sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Iran.

U.S. seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast

The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother's behalf in Oslo, Norway. Machado, who lives in hiding in Venezuela, is set to make an address on Thursday.

Oslo

Venezuela's Machado awarded Nobel Peace Prize in absentia

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is commenting on potential elections in Ukraine under certain conditions. Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst joins CBS News with more on the war against Russia.

Kyiv

Zelenskyy prepared to hold elections after Trump questions motive

A renewed outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has derailed a US-brokered peace agreement, with cross-border shelling and air raids forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes.

Bangkok

Border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia flares up again

U.S. immigration agents used pepper spray against protesters in Minneapolis on Tuesday as residents blocked the officers’ vehicles and forced them to leave the area.

Minneapolis

Minneapolis protests erupt over ICE operation targeting Somalis

In Australia, millions of kids' social media profiles are going dark, as the country's new social media ban takes effect for anyone under 16. Jo Ling Kent reports.

Canberra

Australia's social media ban takes effect for kids under 16

President Trump, in recent months, has dismissed concerns about affordability, but this evening, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, he is focusing on the crisis and touting his administration's efforts to lower the cost of living. Nancy Cordes has more.

Pennsylvania

Trump tries to flip the script on affordability

Dozens of protesters blocked a highway near Tel Aviv to demonstrate against moves by the Israeli government to force some ultra-Orthodox Jews into mandatory military service, something they are currently exempt from so they can study the Torah full time.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Bill over ultra-Orthodox military conscription sparks protests in Israel

President Trump has told Politico that Nicolas Maduro's "days are numbered" in Venezuela. Political strategists Kevin Sheridan and Hyma Moore join with analysis.

Trump says Maduro’s “days are numbered”

The FBI has released a new photo of former Olympian Ryan Wedding, whom the bureau’s director has described as a “modern day iteration of Pablo Escobar.” The ex-skier and snowboarder remains at large as agents continue their search.

FBI releases new photo of alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Pope Leo XIV and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Tuesday (December 9), meanwhile voicing his refusal to surrender territory to Moscow despite pressure from Washington for territorial concessions.

Rome

Zelenskyy seeks backing from Pope Leo XIV, Italian PM Meloni

A federal judge said Tuesday (December 9) that the Department of Justice can unseal the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case records. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane has more details.

Judge says DOJ can unseal Ghislaine Maxwell trafficking case records

Prosecutors on Monday (December 8) released new evidence seized from Luigi Mangione on the day of his arrest. He is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a year ago and has pleaded not guilty.

Manhattan

New evidence introduced in Luigi Mangione case

The EU antitrust enforcer has opened an investigation into the U.S. tech giant over its use of online content to power its AI services, a move that threatens to ratchet up transatlantic relations.

Brussels

EU Commission opens probe into Google over AI

The U.S. government said the approval, which comes in exchange for a 25% surcharge, would also be available to other chipmakers like Intel and AMD.

Trump gives Nvidia green light to sell H200 chips to China

Ukraine is set to present a revised peace plan to the United States on Tuesday following President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s talks in London with the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain.

London

Ukraine to share revised peace plan with U.S., Zelenskiy says

The International Criminal Court Tuesday handed down a sentence of 20 years to a Sudanese militia leader for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country's civil war two decades ago.

Breakdown