Life Sciences & Research
Every product spec and safety document, instantly searchable.
But doesn't my cloud drive already do this?
Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox already connect to AI — so why Knowra? Those native connectors are real, but they have three gaps that matter in life sciences environments. They expose your entire drive, meaning a lab safety query can surface unrelated research documents and create noise at exactly the moment you need a precise answer. They use keyword matching, so searching for "flammable storage" finds nothing if the SDS uses "highly combustible" or lists a CAS number instead of a common name. And if SDS sheets from one vendor live in a different location to technical manuals from another, native connectors cannot consolidate them into a single answer. Knowra scopes to the folders that matter, searches by meaning not keywords, and consolidates all your sources — so you get one precise answer with a citation to the exact document.
The problem
Life sciences teams manage safety data sheets, product specifications, technical manuals, and research documents from dozens of vendors — stored across multiple locations. In a lab environment, finding the right handling or storage requirement quickly is not just a time problem. Manually cross-referencing PDFs from multiple vendors to compare specifications, or scanning through a library of SDS sheets to answer a safety question, is the daily reality for many teams.
How Knowra helps
Knowra indexes your entire product and research document library and connects it to Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini via MCP. Ask 'what are the storage and disposal requirements for sodium azide?' and get the answer from the actual SDS sheet — with the document name and section cited. Ask 'which of our reagents require storage below -20°C?' and get a consolidated answer drawn from every SDS in your library.
Common use cases
- SDS and safety document Q&A for lab safety and compliance
- Storage and handling requirement lookup by reagent or CAS number
- Cross-vendor product specification comparison
- Research document retrieval and summarisation
- Audit and compliance preparation across safety documentation
See the difference in practice
Questions your team actually asks — and what they get back.
"What are the storage and disposal requirements for sodium azide?"
Native connector
Keyword-matches "sodium azide" across your drive. Returns the SDS file — you open it and scroll through pages to find the storage and disposal sections.
Knowra
Returns the storage conditions and disposal instructions from the actual SDS, with the document name and section cited. No PDF to open.
"Which of our reagents require storage below -20°C?"
Native connector
Searches for "-20°C" across your SDS library. Misses documents that say "store frozen" or "ultra-low temperature." Returns a list of files to review manually.
Knowra
Searches semantically across your entire SDS library — matching storage conditions regardless of how they're worded — and returns a consolidated list with citations.
"What's the difference between the Sigma-Aldrich and Thermo Fisher specifications for this buffer solution?"
Native connector
Can search one drive location at a time. If the two SDS sheets are in different folders or sources, you run two separate searches and compare results yourself.
Knowra
Searches across both sources simultaneously and returns a comparison drawn from the actual specification documents, with citations from each.
"Has anyone on the team published research on CRISPR base editing in primary T-cells?"
Native connector
Keyword-matches "CRISPR" and "T-cells." Returns any document with those words — preprints, protocols, lab notes — with no sense of relevance.
Knowra
Searches semantically across your research document library and surfaces the most relevant papers, protocols, and notes with citations — so you know exactly what institutional knowledge already exists.
Your files stay in Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox. Nothing to migrate.