Life sciences (Anthropic marketplace)

Use Anthropic’s life-sciences marketplace from Arka — install PubMed, single-cell QC, Nextflow pipelines, and evidence-backed biomedical research.

Arka integrates Anthropic’s life-sciences marketplace: MCP servers and workflow skills for biomedical research, genomics, and drug discovery.

What it provides

Type	Examples	Arka support
MCP servers	PubMed, BioRender, Synapse, ClinicalTrials.gov	PubMed works locally via NCBI; others install as stubs with guidance
Workflow skills	single-cell-rna-qc, nextflow-development	Installed with runnable scripts when available
Guidance skills	scientific-problem-selection, scvi-tools	Installed with LLM-guided SKILL.md workflows

Quick start

arka life_sciences list
arka life_sciences install pubmed
arka pubmed crispr base editing
arka life_sciences install single-cell-rna-qc

Marketplace commands

arka life_sciences list                 # catalog all plugins
arka life_sciences info pubmed          # plugin details
arka life_sciences install pubmed       # install one plugin as an Arka skill
arka life_sciences doctor               # check cache and install status

Natural language also works:

arka "life sciences list"
arka "install pubmed"

Research with citations

Use the bundled life_sciences profession domain for evidence-first answers:

arka profession ask life_sciences what are latest CAR-T trial endpoints
arka "as a biomedical researcher summarize crispr off-target risks"

MCP vs Arka skills

The upstream repo targets Claude Code (/plugin marketplace add anthropics/life-sciences). Arka adapts it for the terminal:

1. life_sciences meta-skill — lists and installs marketplace plugins into ~/.config/arka/skills/
2. Per-plugin skills — each install gets skill.json + run.py with Arka triggers
3. Profession domain — life_sciences adds PubMed/NIH-biased source registries for cited research

Remote MCP servers that need authentication (BioRender, Synapse, Cortellis) install as stubs. Use Claude Code for full MCP access, or ask via profession ask life_sciences.

Popular plugins

Plugin	Command after install
PubMed	arka pubmed <query>
Single-cell QC	arka single-cell-rna-qc data.h5ad
Nextflow	arka nextflow-development (requires Docker + Nextflow)
Scientific problem selection	arka scientific-problem-selection <research question>

Run arka life_sciences doctor after installing plugins. Use arka skills refresh if triggers do not route immediately.