Skip to main contentThis MonthPublished: 05 November 2026AI bytesZijian Ma1 &James Zou ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-47642 Nature Methods volume 23, pages 2116–2117 (2026) Cite this articleView saved researchA foundation model is trained on a broad body of data to learn general patterns and can then be adapted to many tasks.This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institutionAccess options Access through your institutionAccess Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journalsGet Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription34.99 € / 30 days cancel any timeLearn moreSubscribe to this journalReceive 12 print issues and online access269.00 € per year only 22.42 € per issueLearn moreBuy this articlePurchase on SpringerLinkInstant access to the full article PDF.39,95 €Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutFig. 1: Anatomy of a foundation model.ReferencesRives, A. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 118, e2016239118 (2021).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Lin, Z. et al. Science 379, 1123–1130 (2023).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Archit, A. et al. Nat. Methods 22, 579–591 (2025).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Ahlmann-Eltze, C., Huber, W. & Anders, S. Nat. Methods 22, 1657–1661 (2025).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Boiarsky, R. et al. Nat. Mach. Intell. 6, 1443–1446 (2024).Article Google Scholar Moor, M. et al. Nature 616, 259–265 (2023).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Simon, E., Swanson, K. & Zou, J. Nat. Methods 21, 1422–1429 (2024).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Download referencesAcknowledgementsJ.Z. is supported by funding from the Biohub.Author informationAuthors and AffiliationsDepartment of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USAZijian MaDepartment of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USAJames ZouAuthorsZijian MaView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarJames ZouView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCorresponding authorCorrespondence to James Zou.Ethics declarationsRights and permissionsReprints and permissionsAbout this article