ACELLERA LABS SL

Their core work

Acellera Labs is a Barcelona-based software company specializing in high-throughput molecular dynamics (HTMD) platforms for computational drug discovery. They develop cloud-based tools that allow pharmaceutical researchers to run large-scale molecular simulations for rational drug design. Their technology sits at the intersection of high-performance computing and biomedicine, enabling faster and more accurate identification of drug candidates through simulation rather than traditional lab screening.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Acellera's trajectory follows a clear scale-up path. In the early period (2015-2017), they focused on proving the feasibility of their HTMD drug discovery platform and securing SME instrument funding to build a cloud version. From 2019 onward, their participation in CompBioMed2 shows a shift toward exascale computing and deeper integration into large-scale computational biomedicine infrastructure, moving from a standalone product company toward a contributor in Europe's HPC-biomedicine ecosystem.

Acellera is scaling from a niche molecular dynamics tool provider toward exascale-ready biomedical simulation, positioning itself as infrastructure for next-generation precision medicine workflows.

How they like to work

Acellera operates as both a project initiator and a specialist contributor. They coordinated their own product-focused projects (HTMD, Cloud-HTMD) while joining large Centre of Excellence consortia (CompBioMed) as a technology provider. With 19 unique partners across 9 countries from just 4 projects, they integrate well into broad European consortia while maintaining their own independent R&D agenda.

Despite being a small SME, Acellera has built a network of 19 partners across 9 countries, primarily through the large CompBioMed consortia. Their reach spans multiple European HPC and biomedical research hubs.

What sets them apart

Acellera occupies a rare niche as a software SME that bridges high-performance computing and pharmaceutical drug discovery. Unlike academic groups that publish simulation methods, Acellera productizes them into usable cloud platforms — making them a practical technology provider rather than a research-only partner. Their sustained involvement in the CompBioMed Centre of Excellence validates their tools at the highest level of European computational biomedicine.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CompBioMed2
  Largest funding (EUR 178,125) and participation in a flagship Centre of Excellence in Computational Biomedicine, extending into exascale computing (2019-2024).
• Cloud-HTMD
  Coordinator role on their core commercial product — a cloud platform for high-throughput molecular dynamics in drug discovery, funded through SME Instrument Phase 1.