Ahlstrom, a global leader in fiber-based specialty materials, and Hamilton AG are collaborating to drive the next generation of laboratory automation for Dried Blood Spot (DBS) sample processing. This collaboration combines Ahlstrom’s proven specimen collection solutions with the Hamilton easyPunch STAR platform. Together, the companies aim to elevate DBS cards as a practical, high-performance alternative to traditional liquid blood sampling—while delivering higher levels of automation, beginning with punching, and ensuring complete sample traceability from collection through final processing. Fully automated DBS workflows hold particular promise across key application areas, including nutrigenomics, newborn screening, veterinary diagnostics, and agrigenomics. Ahlstrom and Hamilton are committed to supporting these fields by developing seamless end-to-end automated solutions enabling fully unattended workflows capable of processing hundreds of DBS cards without operator intervention. Leveraging decades of expertise in DBS card manufacturing, Ahlstrom provides automation-optimized card formats while upholding its gold-standard tissue paper specifications. Following the acquisition of EBF, Ahlstrom is also the manufacturer of 903™ cards, the reference card for DBS applications. The acquisition has further strengthened Ahlstrom’s capabilities in specimen collection, card manufacturing, advanced printing, sequential numbering and custom packaging. Through this collaboration, Ahlstrom and Hamilton are setting a new standard for efficiency, reliability, and scalability in DBS sample processing—helping laboratories unlock greater throughput and consistency across critical testing applications. ”For our customers, the value of this collaboration is in connecting high-quality specimen collection with the next steps in the laboratory workflow. By working with Hamilton, we can help laboratories move toward more efficient and scalable DBS processing while maintaining the consistency and reliability they require,” said Tamara Quatrano, Vice President, Lab & Lab Science, Ahlstrom. “Combining Hamilton’s automation expertise with Ahlstrom’s DBS specimen collection solutions gives laboratories a practical path to reduce manual handling and process larger sample volumes with greater consistency and traceability. Together, we are exploring how automation can create value across a range of DBS applications,” said Roberto Fantozzi, Director Commercial Excellence, Hamilton AG. For further information, please contact: Annemiek Voorzee VP, Communications and Marketing annemiek.voorzee@ahlstrom.com Ahlstrom in brief Ahlstrom is a global leader in combining fibers into sustainable specialty materials. Our purpose is to Purify and Protect, with Every Fiber, for a Sustainable World. Our vision is to be the leading Sustainable Specialty Materials Company for all our stakeholders. Our three Core divisions, Filtration & Life Sciences, Food & Consumer Packaging, and Protective Materials, address global trends with safe and sustainable solutions. Our net sales in 2025 amounted to EUR 2.9 billion and we employ some 7,000 people. Read more www.ahlstrom.com. Hamilton in brief For more than 75 years, Hamilton Company has been a global life sciences leader in the design and manufacturing of precision measurement devices, automated liquid handling platforms, and sample management solutions. Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, with key manufacturing and R&D affiliates in Bonaduz, Switzerland, Franklin, Massachusetts, and Timisoara, Romania, Hamilton serves the scientific community through a robust network of sales and support offices worldwide. Hamilton’s expertise spans across liquid handling, process analytics, robotics, and automated storage, providing the foundational tools necessary for groundbreaking scientific research and clinical discovery. By combining the best-quality materials with skilled workmanship and a lifelong commitment to ISO 9001-certified precision, Hamilton ensures the highest level of performance and reliability. Hamilton remains dedicated to driving innovation and satisfying the evolving needs of laboratories across the globe, maintaining a steadfast focus on quality and customer success.
- Accelerates research and development by enabling AI-augmented workflows and automated lab-in-the-loop cycles, already a new and fast-growing source of demand for Waters’ instruments and consumables
- Leverages Waters’ unique ability to take an AI-directed experiment from the research bench into development and into Empower™ Software, carrying its audit trail as the molecule moves into downstream, regulated settings
- Joins Anthropic’s Model Hardware Standard (MHS) research program designed to enable AI agents to operate Waters instrument hardware directly and autonomously, cutting instrument integration from weeks to hours
- Brings Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) to waters_connect™ Software, enabling scientists to direct Waters instruments through proprietary agents linked to large language models (LLMs), as well as Claude Science
MILFORD, Mass. — Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) today announced that it has launched Waters AI Link, a software capability that brings Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) to its informatics platform and has joined Anthropic’s Model Hardware Standard (MHS) research program.
“AI can generate hypotheses faster than any lab can test them, so the bottleneck has moved from computation to the bench,” said Dave Leitham, Vice President, Informatics, Waters Corporation. “Every hypothesis an AI model generates becomes a physical sample that has to be separated and measured, multiplying the sample volume running through our instruments and columns.”
Leitham continued, “Waters has spent years building the compliant data foundation that regulated laboratories depend on. Our strategy is simple. In research, we connect AI agents to both the data and the instruments that generate it, so scientists can move at the speed of AI. That work carries forward on the same platform through development, then into Empower Software, the compliant system of record, as a molecule reaches quality control. No other company can support an AI-directed experiment from the research bench through to validated release, for small molecules and biologics alike, in a single continuous workflow. That is Waters’ advantage, and it is why we are becoming a leader in the AI transformation of the laboratory.”
Together, Waters AI Link and MHS will enable scientists to direct Waters instruments and connected automation through Claude, including Claude Science, Anthropic’s AI workbench for scientific research, and allow AI agents to operate Waters analytical instrumentation directly and autonomously. Waters continues to deliver new AI capabilities across its informatics portfolio as laboratories move toward AI-directed and increasingly autonomous operation, an area that is already generating new demand for Waters instruments and consumables.
Connecting AI Workflows Across the Laboratory, From Research to Release
waters_connect Software is Waters’ cloud-enabled informatics platform for instrument control, data acquisition, and scientific workflows for liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The platform serves research and development laboratories, and that work transitions into Empower Software as it advances into regulated environments. For customers in research settings, these capabilities will enable the seamless transfer of workflows between dry labs and wet labs, allowing customers to accelerate outcomes via AI-augmented workflows or via fully automated lab-in-the-loop cycles. This includes autonomous physical testing of AI-generated hypotheses, followed by measurement capture that feeds directly back to the model, which hones its predictions and designs the next experiment. Because this work runs on waters_connect Software, those same workflows can then move seamlessly into development as the molecule advances.
For customers in development settings, these capabilities can enable workflow optimization and efficiency gains, unlocking AI-enhanced method development, characterization, and testing with significantly less manual intervention, compressing timelines from weeks to days.
Waters AI Link and Anthropic MCP
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that connects AI models and agents to software and data through a common interface. Waters AI Link brings MCP to waters_connect Software. Customers can link waters_connect Software to Claude and other large language models and AI agents through a natural language interface, pairing Waters’ data handling and integration algorithms with the speed of AI-driven workflows, including the orchestration of connected devices such as sample preparation systems. Agents can create methods, run acquisitions, and process results without custom integration.
Waters and MHS
The Model Hardware Standard is an open specification, developed by Anthropic with scientific research institutions, that is designed to let AI agents safely operate physical laboratory devices such as instruments, liquid handlers, and robotic arms. Connecting proprietary instruments typically takes weeks or months of custom software engineering, because most devices do not speak to one another. MHS cuts that integration to hours or minutes. Once enabled, agents can run experiments overnight, adjust parameters as results arrive, recover from instrument errors without intervention, and scale research around the clock in automated lab-in-the-loop cycles.
Waters AI Link is available now for early access, with general availability in November for waters_connect Software customers. Waters’ participation in the MHS research program is effective immediately.
Waters, waters_connect, and Empower are trademarks of Waters Corporation or its affiliates. Anthropic and Claude are trademarks of Anthropic, PBC. Model Context Protocol is a trademark of LF Projects, LLC. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.
About Waters Corporation:
Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) is a global leader in life sciences and diagnostics, dedicated to accelerating the benefits of pioneering science through analytical technologies, informatics, and service. With a focus on regulated, high-volume testing environments, our innovative portfolio harnesses deep scientific expertise across chemistry, physics, and biology. We collaborate with customers around the world to advance the release of effective, high-quality medicines, ensure the safety of food and water, and drive better patient outcomes by detecting diseases earlier, managing routine infections, and combating antibiotic resistance. Through a shared culture of relentless innovation, our passionate team of ~15,000 colleagues turn scientific challenges into breakthroughs that improve lives worldwide. For more information, please visit www.waters.com/about.
