Foundation models have revolutionized natural language processing and artificial intelligence, significantly enhancing how machines comprehend and generate human languages. Inspired by the success of these foundation models, researchers have developed foundation models for individual scientific domains, including small molecules, materials, proteins, DNA, RNA and even cells. However, these models are typically trained in isolation, lacking the ability to integrate across different scientific domains. Recognizing that entities within these domains can all be represented as sequences, which together form the”language of nature”, we introduce Nature Language Model (NatureLM), a sequence-based science foundation model designed for scientific discovery. Pre-trained with data from multiple scientific domains, NatureLM offers a unified, versatile model that enables various applications including: (i) generating and optimizing small molecules, proteins, RNA, and materials using text instructions; (ii) cross-domain generation\/design, such as protein-to-molecule and protein-to-RNA generation; and (iii) top performance across different domains, matching or surpassing state-of-the-art specialist models. NatureLM offers a promising generalist approach for various scientific tasks, including drug discovery (hit generation\/optimization, ADMET optimization, synthesis), novel material design, and the development of therapeutic proteins or nucleotides. We have developed NatureLM models in different sizes (1 billion, 8 billion, and 46.7 billion parameters) and observed a clear improvement in performance as the model size increases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Foundation models have revolutionized natural language processing and artificial intelligence, significantly enhancing how machines comprehend and generate human languages. Inspired by the success of these foundation models, researchers have developed foundation models for individual scientific domains, including small molecules, materials, proteins, DNA, RNA and even cells. However, these models are typically trained in isolation, lacking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-author-ordering":null,"msr_publishername":"","msr_publisher_other":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_edition":"","msr_editors":"","msr_how_published":"arXiv","msr_isbn":"","msr_issue":"","msr_journal":"","msr_number":"","msr_organization":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_page_range_start":"","msr_page_range_end":"","msr_series":"","msr_volume":"","msr_copyright":"","msr_conference_name":"","msr_doi":"","msr_arxiv_id":"","msr_s2_paper_id":"","msr_mag_id":"","msr_pubmed_id":"","msr_other_authors":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_award":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_institution":"","msr_host":"","msr_version":"","msr_duration":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":null,"msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_s2_match_type":"","msr_citation_count_updated":"","msr_published_date":"2025-3-6","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_notes":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_publicationurl":"","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_conference_url":"","msr_journal_url":"","msr_s2_pdf_url":"","msr_year":0,"msr_citation_count":0,"msr_influential_citations":0,"msr_reference_count":0,"msr_s2_match_confidence":0,"msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":true,"msr_s2_open_access":false,"msr_s2_author_ids":[],"msr_pub_ids":[],"msr_hide_image_in_river":null,"footnotes":""},"msr-research-highlight":[],"research-area":[13556],"msr-publication-type":[193724],"msr-publisher":[],"msr-focus-area":[],"msr-locale":[268875],"msr-post-option":[269148,269142],"msr-field-of-study":[246691],"msr-conference":[],"msr-journal":[],"msr-impact-theme":[],"msr-pillar":[],"class_list":["post-1142034","msr-research-item","type-msr-research-item","status-publish","hentry","msr-research-area-artificial-intelligence","msr-locale-en_us","msr-post-option-approved-for-river","msr-post-option-include-in-river","msr-field-of-study-computer-science"],"msr_publishername":"","msr_edition":"","msr_affiliation":"","msr_published_date":"2025-3-6","msr_host":"","msr_duration":"","msr_version":"","msr_speaker":"","msr_other_contributors":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_journal":"","msr_volume":"","msr_number":"","msr_editors":"","msr_series":"","msr_issue":"","msr_organization":"","msr_how_published":"arXiv","msr_notes":"","msr_highlight_text":"","msr_release_tracker_id":"","msr_original_fields_of_study":"","msr_download_urls":"","msr_external_url":"","msr_secondary_video_url":"","msr_longbiography":"","msr_microsoftintellectualproperty":1,"msr_main_download":"","msr_publicationurl":"","msr_doi":"","msr_publication_uploader":[{"type":"url","viewUrl":"false","id":"false","title":"https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2502.07527","label_id":"252679","label":0}],"msr_related_uploader":"","msr_citation_count":0,"msr_citation_count_updated":"","msr_s2_paper_id":"","msr_influential_citations":0,"msr_reference_count":0,"msr_arxiv_id":"","msr_s2_author_ids":[],"msr_s2_open_access":false,"msr_s2_pdf_url":null,"msr_attachments":[],"msr-author-ordering":[{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Yingce Xia","user_id":37784,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Yingce Xia"},{"type":"text","value":"Peiran Jin","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Shufang Xie","user_id":39886,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Shufang Xie"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Liang He","user_id":38505,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Liang He"},{"type":"text","value":"Chuan Cao","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Renqian Luo","user_id":40441,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Renqian Luo"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Guoqing Liu","user_id":40438,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Guoqing Liu"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Yue Wang","user_id":36966,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Yue Wang"},{"type":"text","value":"Zequn Liu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Yuan-Jyue Chen","user_id":35057,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Yuan-Jyue Chen"},{"type":"text","value":"Yuan Chen","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Zekun Guo","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Yeqi Bai","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Pan Deng","user_id":39865,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Pan Deng"},{"type":"text","value":"Yaosen Min","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Zi\u2010Ang Lu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Hongxia Hao","user_id":42498,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Hongxia Hao"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Han Yang","user_id":42288,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Han Yang"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Jielan Li","user_id":43308,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Jielan Li"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Chang Liu","user_id":39889,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Chang Liu"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Jia Zhang","user_id":41075,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Jia Zhang"},{"type":"text","value":"Jian-Bo Zhu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Ke-Ming Wu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Wei Zhang","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Kaiyuan Gao","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Qizhi Pei","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Qian Wang","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Xixian Liu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Yanting Li","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Houtian Zhu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Yeqing Lu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Mingqian Ma","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Zun Wang","user_id":42336,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Zun Wang"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Tian Xie","user_id":41413,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Tian Xie"},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Krzysztof Maziarz","user_id":38955,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Krzysztof Maziarz"},{"type":"edited_text","value":"Marwin H. S. Segler","user_id":40300,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Marwin H. S. Segler"},{"type":"text","value":"Zhao Yang","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Zi-wei Chen","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Yu Shi","user_id":40405,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Yu Shi"},{"type":"text","value":"Shuxin Zheng","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Lijun Wu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Chen Hu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Peggy Dai","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Tiemin Liu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"text","value":"Hai-Long Liu","user_id":0,"rest_url":false},{"type":"user_nicename","value":"Tao Qin","user_id":33871,"rest_url":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/microsoft-research\/v1\/researchers?person=Tao Qin"}],"msr_impact_theme":[],"msr_research_lab":[851467],"msr_event":[],"msr_group":[],"msr_project":[],"publication":[],"video":[],"msr-tool":[],"msr_publication_type":"miscellaneous","related_content":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item\/1142034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/msr-research-item"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item\/1142034\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142047,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-item\/1142034\/revisions\/1142047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1142034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"msr-research-highlight","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-research-highlight?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-area?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-publication-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-publication-type?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-publisher","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-publisher?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-focus-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-focus-area?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-locale","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-locale?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-post-option","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-post-option?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-field-of-study","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-field-of-study?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-conference","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-conference?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-journal","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-journal?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-impact-theme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-impact-theme?post=1142034"},{"taxonomy":"msr-pillar","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cm-edgetun.pages.dev\/en-us\/research\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/msr-pillar?post=1142034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}