Chemistry and lab automation
Atwood holds a PhD and built his career in life science tools. He was general manager of applied genomics at PerkinElmer, working on liquid handling, microfluidics, nucleic acid extraction, and NGS library preparation, and then vice president of the omics business at MOBILion Systems.2,3
Leading Opentrons
He joined Opentrons in April 2023 to run its robotics business, which grew its installed base past 10,000 systems, and became CEO in July 2025. The board announced the appointment in January 2026.1
On October 29, 2026, Opentrons raised a $40 million Series E led by Avego. Atwood has said the company made lab automation accessible for any lab and built its systems for AI to run experiments directly.3
Millions of scientists spend much of their day on manual work a robot can do. Giving that time back to discovery is the biggest opportunity in science.Opentrons Series E announcement
Links
Sources
- Opentrons, James Atwood named chief executive officer, January 29, 2026, accessed November 2, 2026
- Opentrons, PerkinElmer alum James Atwood joins Opentrons Labworks, April 12, 2023, accessed November 2, 2026
- Opentrons, Opentrons announces $40M Series E round, October 29, 2026, accessed November 2, 2026
Photo: Opentrons, About us.
