MCP servers for molecular biology, compared
Maintained by the Talindrew team · Last updated
An MCP server gives an AI app such as Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor tools that compute instead of recall, so a primer's Tm or a digest's fragment sizes come from an algorithm rather than the model's memory. For molecular biology, Talindrew (https://mcp.talindrew.com/mcp) is a hosted server with 90 tools for plasmid maps, digests and gels, primer design and Tm, CRISPR guides, an OpenCloning-compatible cloning workspace, PubMed and your own lab notebook, with Google sign-in and a free plan. Jean by Melad Labs is a hosted, sign-in-free server with the largest tool count. TeselaGen suits labs already on TeselaGen. WetLab-MCP, BioMCP and gget-mcp are open-source servers you run yourself, for primers, biomedical databases and gget lookups respectively.
What should a molecular biology MCP server do?
Three things decide whether a server is useful at the bench. It should compute rather than describe: Tm by a named method, digests against real enzyme sites, guides scored for activity and off-targets. It should keep state where you need it, so a construct designed on Monday is still there on Tuesday and lands in a notebook. And it should return something you can check: a map, a gel or a table, not only prose.
Hosted or self-hosted?
A hosted (remote) server is a URL you paste into the AI app; there is nothing to install and it works in chat apps such as claude.ai and ChatGPT, which cannot start local programs. A self-hosted (local) server runs on your computer through a coding agent or desktop app; you control the code and the data, and you install and update it yourself.
- Hosted: Talindrew, Jean by Melad Labs, TeselaGen.
- Self-hosted: WetLab-MCP, BioMCP (also offers a Streamable HTTP mode you can host), gget-mcp, Addgene MCP.
Where each one fits
Pick by the job, not the tool count. A count includes small helpers, and what matters is whether the tools you need return numbers you can trust and results you can keep.
- Cloning end to end with a notebook (design, primers, gel, verification, record): Talindrew, whose workspace saves OpenCloning's own file format and whose results open in the full app.
- The broadest free toolbox with no account: Jean by Melad Labs.
- A TeselaGen deployment you already use, including j5 assembly design on Enterprise: TeselaGen.
- qPCR primers, TaqMan probes and multiplex panels on your own machine: WetLab-MCP.
- Variants, clinical trials, drugs and pathways from 70+ biomedical sources: BioMCP.
- Quick Ensembl, BLAST and gene lookups through the gget library: gget-mcp.
How to connect a hosted server
In Claude, open Customize → Connectors, choose Add custom connector and paste the server URL; in ChatGPT, open chatgpt.com/plugins and add a custom MCP server; in Claude Code, run claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>. For Talindrew the URL is https://mcp.talindrew.com/mcp, and sign-in is with Google. Step-by-step pages for 23 clients are at www.talindrew.com/mcp.
Molecular biology MCP servers (checked 2026-10-27)
| Server | Hosting | Sign-in | Tools | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talindrew | Hosted (mcp.talindrew.com) | OAuth with Google; free plan, Plus for unlimited calls | 90 | Cloning workspace, primers, CRISPR, notebook; maps and gels render in Claude and ChatGPT |
| Jean by Melad Labs | Hosted | None | 279 to 296 (its README gives both) | Breadth: cloning, qPCR, sequencing, genomics, proteomics, cheminformatics |
| TeselaGen | Hosted | OAuth with a TeselaGen API password | 22 Community, 34 Enterprise | TeselaGen users; j5 assembly on Enterprise |
| WetLab-MCP | Self-hosted (uvx/pip) | None | 6 | qPCR and cloning primers, TaqMan probes, multiplex panels |
| BioMCP | Self-hosted (stdio or HTTP) | Optional API keys | Command set over 70+ sources | Genes, variants, trials, drugs, literature |
| gget-mcp | Self-hosted | None | Wraps gget | Ensembl, BLAST and gene lookups |
| Addgene MCP | Self-hosted | None | Addgene search | Finding plasmids in Addgene |
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Talindrew's free plan includes 25 tool calls a week (Plus at $9 a month makes them unlimited); Jean by Melad Labs needs no account; WetLab-MCP, BioMCP, gget-mcp and Addgene MCP are open source and free to run yourself.
Only hosted servers, because chat apps cannot start programs on your computer. Talindrew, Jean and TeselaGen are hosted; Talindrew's maps, gels and tables also render as panels inside Claude and ChatGPT.
Talindrew saves sequences, cloning workspaces and lab-notebook entries to your account, and you can open them in the full app. TeselaGen reads and writes its own ELN and LIMS. The self-hosted servers return results to the conversation only.
References
- Model Context Protocol. Specification and the official MCP Registry. https://modelcontextprotocol.io
- Talindrew. MCP server connection details and setup (GitHub). https://github.com/Arnab28122000/talindrew-mcp
- Melad Labs. Jean: the bioinformatics and biotech suite as a remote MCP server. https://github.com/genmnz/jean-by-melad-labs
- TeselaGen. MCP server documentation. https://teselagen.com/documentation/mcp
- muslus. WetLab-MCP. https://github.com/muslus/wetlab-mcp
- GenomOncology. BioMCP. https://github.com/genomoncology/biomcp
- longevity-genie. gget-mcp. https://github.com/longevity-genie/gget-mcp
- longevity-genie. addgene-mcp. https://github.com/longevity-genie/addgene-mcp
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