A major milestone for American semiconductor manufacturing. Today, SandboxAQ announced a definitive agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a $500 million CHIPS award to help tackle one of the most urgent challenges in American manufacturing: securing the critical materials and chemistries that underpin semiconductor production. Using Large Quantitative Models (LQMs), SandboxAQ will advance innovation across four material categories essential to the future of the industry: • PFAS-free process chemicals • Advanced catalysts • Rare earth-free magnets • Next-generation battery systems Across all four categories, the opportunity is the same: move critical materials from discovery to industrial deployment faster than ever before and strengthen the foundation of American semiconductor manufacturing. Read the full release here: sandboxaq.com/post/sandboxaq…

Can you explain your research without a single slide? Science’s Dance Your Ph.D. contest is open for its 19th year, and SandboxAQ is sponsoring it again. The challenge is to turn your research into dance, with no PowerPoint and no jargon. Last year’s winner danced the piezoelectric effect, how certain materials produce an electric charge when squeezed or stretched. That’s the bar this year. You don’t have to be a current student. You can be just starting your Ph.D. or have finished it decades ago. There are four categories: physics, biology, chemistry, and social science. Each category winner receives $750, and the overall winner gets an additional $2,000. Submissions are due January 29, 2027, and we'll announce the winner by March 2027. At SandboxAQ, our work in AI and quantum technology depends on making complex science clear to people outside the lab. This contest rewards that skill, and we’re looking forward to the entries. Read the full details and enter here: science.org/content/article/… Learn more about the SBAQ residency program: youtube.com/watch?v=WuBHQwbB… and subscribe to our AQ Newsflash newsletter for more updates on science, research, and innovation: linkedin.com/newsletters/aq-… #DanceYourPhD #SciComm #STEM

This past Monday evening in Berlin, we announced that Apheris and SandboxAQ have launched the Virtual Cell Network. Our goal is to build the world's largest pharma-led virtual cell network. Late-stage failures are among the costliest outcomes in drug development. Virtual cell models predict how a compound changes a cell, helping teams spot problems earlier. To support decisions in drug programs, these models need data from human-relevant cell systems, measured at the relevant dose and duration, against efficacy and safety endpoints. Much of that data sits inside pharma companies, and no single company holds enough of it alone to train a model that performs reliably on new compounds and cells. In the Virtual Cell Network, members train AQCell on their proprietary data to broaden its applicability domain, then fine-tune it downstream to make it specific to their own programs. Raw data never leaves any company’s environment. SandboxAQ provides AQCell. Apheris operates the network and delivers the models through the Apheris platform, so pharma teams can customize them and integrate them into their drug programs. Apheris also runs federated networks for co-folding, ADMET, and antibody developability. Thank you to everyone who made this launch happen. At SandboxAQ: Nadian Harhen , Bill Fitzgerald, Andrew McLaughlin, Adam Lewis, Zane Beckwith, Nihit Pokhrel, Danielle Scheffey, Radha Patel, and Jennifer Stewart. At Apheris: Robin Röhm, Lewis Mervin, Julian Schoenauer, Iva Lukac, José-Tomás (JT) Prieto, and Max Nisslein. Founding members can join until the end of Q1 2027. To learn more or talk to our scientists, see apheris.com/networks/virtual… and sandboxaq.com/models/aqcell.

That's a wrap on The Battery Show North America 2026! We appreciated the conversations about how AI and physics-based modeling can help address practical challenges in battery materials discovery and performance prediction. We were also honored to receive the Software and Digital Innovation of the Year award - a recognition of our team's work bringing AQVolt and Large Quantitative Models to battery R&D. Thank you to everyone who visited our booth and shared their challenges and ideas. We look forward to building on these conversations. #TheBatteryShow #BatteryInnovation #AI #SandboxAQ

Just one week out, and we would like to meet you there. Bring your thoughts to this. Which of your computational methods would you let an agent call unsupervised? Dr. Mary Pitman, our Head of Simulation and Biologics, will be discussing this with you during her talk on Building the Scientific Foundations of Agentic Drug Discovery. She will talk about how we should build scientific methods for an agentic future that is robust without human in the loop tuning, flexible across diverse problems, and designed to operate natively within autonomous workflows. Mary’s talk will be on Thursday October 29 at 2:30 PM. We also have three posters accepted. Come and hear our scientists talk about their work: Dr. Mary Pitman— Integrated AI and physics-based methodologies for in-Silico Target Identification Dr. Amogh Sood — Accurate and Scalable Free Energy Calculations via Nonequilibrium Chimeric Switching (NEX) Dr. Rae Qi — Scaling Binding Affinity Prediction with Cofolding and Free Energy Calculations: Application to E3 Ligase Modulators Our scientists, along with Danielle Scheffey, Radha Patel, and Bill Fitzgerald, will also be at The 19th Hole on Tuesday the 27th — come and chat in person! Registration link here: the19thholewithsandboxaq.spl…

On Thursday, @switch_ai_ General Manager, Mohammed Aboul-Magd will discuss what's next for enterprise AI: moving beyond individual agents to a workforce where humans and agents collaborate, with shared context, governance, and flexibility. Continue the conversation at booth number 738 near Stage 4.

Join us in Berlin on Monday, October 19th, the evening before NVIDIA GTC Berlin! SandboxAQ and Apheris are hosting an evening for the life sciences and AI community and we’d love for you to be there. Together, we’ll share the story behind our new collaboration: how SandboxAQ’s physics-grounded Large Quantitative Models and Apheris’ federated networks can bring AI to the proprietary data that drug discovery depends on, without that data ever leaving the building. Our COO Andrew McLaughlin, Apheris CEO Robin Röhm, and key scientists behind the work will kick things off with a short scientific program. Then it’s time to connect with R&D leaders, drug-discovery AI researchers, founders, and investors over great food, drinks, and music. Location: zazou, Berlin. Französische Str. 15, 10117 Berlin, Germany Date and Time: Monday, October 19, from 7:00 PM CEST If you’re in Berlin or heading to NVIDIA GTC Berlin, you’re invited. Register here: luma.com/8mw452pu

Your AI workforce is growing. So is @switch_ai_ 🛡️ Switch Trust: Assess agent risk and apply guardrails. 📊 Switch ROI: Track agent costs, performance and value. More visibility. More control. Explore the expanded Switch AI: switchagents.ai/ Read the announcement: prnewswire.com/news-releases…

SandboxAQ Essential Concepts – What Is AQVolt, and Why Does Battery Discovery Need It? How can we discover better battery materials faster? AQVolt is a physics-grounded AI and simulation platform designed to help predict material properties, identify promising battery compositions, and optimize performance. By combining physics-based methods with AI-driven insights, AQVolt can screen large numbers of candidates before they reach the lab. The result? Researchers can focus lab time on stronger candidates, accelerating the cycle from prediction and discovery to validation and optimization. AQVolt doesn’t replace the lab. It helps make lab time more targeted and productive. Explore the diagram above to see how 👇

Battery Technology recapped the 2026 Battery Awards, held at The Battery Show North America, which celebrated the innovations and companies driving the battery industry forward. Among this year’s honorees was SandboxAQ’s AQVolt, named 2026 Battery Software and Digital Innovation of the Year. We’re proud to see our work recognized alongside the innovations shaping the future of battery technology. As the industry works to improve battery performance, safety, and longevity, AQVolt's capabilities can help inform smarter decisions across the battery lifecycle. Read the full article from Battery Technology for a look at this year’s award winners and highlights from the event: batterytechonline.com/batter…

SandboxAQ Essential Concepts – How Can We Simulate and Predict Battery Performance? How can we better predict how a battery will perform over time? Battery performance depends on processes happening across multiple scales, from atoms and material properties to interfaces and full cells. Connecting these scales can help us understand everything from ion migration and surface reactions to cycle life, temperature evolution, and operating windows. The goal? Combine simulation, testing, and learning to predict battery behavior, identify opportunities for improvement, and accelerate the development of better-performing cells. Explore the diagram above to see how modeling across scales can help us better understand and predict battery performance 👇

🎉 What a night in Detroit! Last night AQVolt took home the 2026 Battery Software and Digital Innovation of the Year award at The Battery Show North America — and the team is still at Booth 4503 today! Ang Xiao, Aatif Misbah, Alexandre Fleury, Chuhong Wang, QJ Li, and Scott Healey will be providing demos all day at the booth. Come see our award winning solution for yourself! A few more ways to meet the team this week: Wednesday evening. We are hosting a happy hour today, 5:00–7:00 PM EDT at 607 Shelby St. Register here if you have not yet: sandboxaqhappyhour.splashtha… Thursday afternoon: Dr. Ang Xiao, Sandbox’s Technical Lead of AI for Materials Science, will be giving a talk on “AI Meets Battery Science: Accelerating Materials Discovery with Large Quantitative Models” on Thursday at 2:30pm EDT. Additional details here. Add this to your agenda if you have not! Congratulations to our team who built AQVolt. Come meet them in person!

Being directionally right about a cell is a long way from being a model you can fully trust. Figuring out where foundation models belong in a discovery workflow means working through the space between those two points. That is the subject of "Where Foundation and Virtual Cell Models Are Earning Their Place in Discovery" at Data Driven Pharma West, moderated by Jordan Crivelli-Decker, Head of Machine Learning & Informatics at SandboxAQ. Hajo Schiewe will also be around to answer your questions! If you are attending DataDrivenPharma, join the conversation on Thursday, October 15, 3:45 pm!

SandboxAQ Essential Concepts – How Can We Make Better Batteries? What does it take to build a better battery? There is no single “best” battery. The right battery depends on the job it needs to do. Improving performance means optimizing the whole system, from materials and interfaces to ion transport, cell design, and manufacturing. The goal? Find the right balance of energy, power, lifetime, safety, cost, and sustainability for a specific application. Understanding how these factors work together is key to developing batteries that are better suited for the demands of everything from electric vehicles to grid storage. Explore the diagram above to see what goes into optimizing a battery for its mission 👇

In the newest episode of the fAQ podcast, Tai-Danae Bradley talks with Christian Nguyen, Program Manager on SandboxAQ’s AQMed team, about one of healthcare’s toughest challenges: diagnosing heart attacks. Christian’s path to medical devices has taken him through quantum information science, electron-generating targets for Cornell’s linear particle accelerator, and research at Harvard on the optical properties of diamonds and their potential role in a future quantum internet. Today, he’s moved through five different roles on the AQMed team while helping prepare CardiAQ for major manufacturing and FDA milestones. The conversation dives into broader topics like career adaptability, startup culture, and how Christian uses large language models as a daily thought partner in the lab. 🎙️ Watch the full episode on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=OcE25pLO… Caution: CardiAQ is an investigational device. Limited by Federal (or United States) law to investigational use.

The Expo floor for The Battery Show North America is open! Come visit us at Booth 4503! Ang Xiao, Aatif Misbah, Alexandre Fleury, Chuhong Wang, QJ Li, and Scott Healey will be providing demos all day at the booth, ready to share what we have been cooking! Also on the program: 🔸 Wednesday evening. We are hosting a happy hour, 5:00–7:00 PM EDT at 607 Shelby St. Come for some drinks and great conversations on AI for materials sciences! Register here if you have not yet. 🔸Thursday afternoon: Dr. Ang Xiao, Sandbox’s Technical Lead of AI for Materials Science, will share his perspectives on “AI Meets Battery Science: Accelerating Materials Discovery with Large Quantitative Models” on Thursday at 2:30pm EDT. Additional details here. Add this to your agenda if you have not! Come meet the team!

Join us in Berlin on Monday, October 19th, the evening before NVIDIA GTC Berlin! SandboxAQ and Apheris are hosting an evening for the life sciences and AI community and we’d love for you to be there. Together, we’ll share the story behind our new collaboration: how SandboxAQ’s physics-grounded Large Quantitative Models and Apheris’ federated networks can bring AI to the proprietary data that drug discovery depends on, without that data ever leaving the building. Our COO Andrew McLaughlin, Apheris CEO Robin Röhm, and key scientists behind the work will kick things off with a short scientific program. Then it’s time to connect with R&D leaders, drug-discovery AI researchers, founders, and investors over great food, drinks, and music. Location: zazou, Berlin. Französische Str. 15, 10117 Berlin, Germany Date and Time: Monday, October 19, from 7:00 PM CEST If you’re in Berlin or heading to NVIDIA GTC Berlin, you’re invited. Register here: luma.com/8mw452pu Bill Fitzgerald, Radha Patel, Jenn Stewart, Sydney King, Nihit Pokherl, Adam Lewis, Robin Rohm

We will be at the AI Drug Discovery & Development Summit 2026 in Boston, 27–29 October. Come and find us! A good reason to do so: Dr. Mary Pitman, our Head of Simulation and Biologics, will be giving a talk on Building the Scientific Foundations of Agentic Drug Discovery. She will discuss how we should build scientific methods for an agentic future that is robust without human in the loop tuning, flexible across diverse problems, and designed to operate natively within autonomous workflows. Attending AIDDD yourself? Come to the session on Thursday and join the conversation! We are also hosting the opening night gathering — The 19th Hole at Swingers, Tuesday October 27 at 7:00 PM. Mini golf, food, and a good place to start the argument early. Registration link here: the19thholewithsandboxaq.spl…

SandboxAQ will be in Detroit next week for The Battery Show North America! Even more exciting - SandboxAQ has been named a finalist for Battery Software & Digital Innovation of the Year! Come find us during the Battery Show: Booth 4503. Ang Xiao, Aatif Misbah, Alexandre Fleury, Chuhong Wang, QJ Li, and Scott Healey will be providing demos all day at the booth. Come and see our products in action! Wednesday evening. Our happy hour, 5:00–7:00 PM EDT at 607 Shelby St. Register here if you have not yet. Thursday afternoon: Dr. Ang Xiao, Sandbox’s Technical Lead of AI for Materials Science, will be giving a talk “AI Meets Battery Science: Accelerating Materials Discovery with Large Quantitative Models” on Thursday at 2:30pm EDT. Additional details here. Add this talk to your agenda if you have not! We look forward to seeing you next week!

SandboxAQ Essential Concepts – How Does a Battery Work? What actually happens inside a battery when you turn on a device? A battery stores energy chemically and releases it as electricity on demand. In a typical lithium-ion cell, redox reactions at the anode and cathode move electrons through an external circuit while lithium ions move through the electrolyte inside the cell. The result? Chemical energy is converted into electrical energy that can power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles. Understanding the basics of how batteries work is key to understanding how we can make them more efficient, powerful, and reliable. Explore the diagram above to see what’s happening inside a battery 👇

As AI agents take on more work, accuracy and activity only tell part of the story. In a new article for EDGE Middle East, Mohammed Aboul-Magd, General Manager at SandboxAQ, explores why agent performance needs to be evaluated more like human performance with context around cost, quality, human intervention, and business outcomes. Read the full perspective in EDGE Magazine: mags.itp.com/EDGE/2026/0406-…