Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) owned and funded by Mark and Priscilla Zuckerberg have disbursed $50 million to investigators at Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, CZBiohub, to find cure to deadly diseases ravaging the world.
As they developed their strategy for investing in science, Mark and Priscilla met with experts across the country to talk about the biggest questions and challenges in science today. One of the issues raised by many scientists was the lack of funding for early-career scientists and the lack of funding for projects that were more daring, and require longer time horizons.
“Our team at the Biohub just funded its first class of investigators — 47 scientists from Stanford, UCSF and Berkeley working to help cure all diseases in our children’s lifetime,” Mark said revealing the disbursement on behalf CZI.
“Today, just four kinds of diseases cause the majority of deaths. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is focused on bringing scientists and engineers together to build technology to make progress on all of them.
“We’re investing $50 million in this first class of investigators. This program will provide 5 years of funding to some of the most innovative researchers in the Bay Area, especially focused on young scientists early in their careers,” the Facebook founder and CEO added.
Confirming the development, Nicholas Dirks, the Chancellor of University of California, Berkeley said, “The CZ Biohub has chosen some of Berkeley’s best and most innovative researchers, who offer an amazing breadth of expertise”.
Nicholas Dirks further stated that “This first cohort of Investigators illustrates the potential and promise of the CZBiohub to push the boundaries of biomedical research, and to accelerate the development of breakthrough scientific and medical advancements, applications and therapeutics for the public’s benefit”.
“This first group includes a Stanford data scientist working to analyze massive quantities of genomic data, a doctor from UCSF looking at how malaria spreads, an engineer from Berkeley who is designing tools to better understand human biology, including a miniature foldable microscope, and more.
“This is a diverse group, with almost 50% women and 15% underrepresented minorities,” Mark said.
This funding is unrestricted, giving these extraordinary Investigators the freedom to pursue their riskiest, most exciting ideas.
“The extraordinary promise of the CZBiohub is being realized today with the announcement of a remarkably talented group of researchers from our three campuses.
“These Investigators are each working at the leading edge of science. Support from the CZBiohub will drive exciting new collaborations across biomedical science, engineering, and computational science to attack some of the biggest unsolved problems in biology and human health,” Sam Hawgood, Chancellor of UCSF confirmed
Many of these high-risk projects will involve the invention of new tools and new techniques that accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and help the CZBiohub realize its vision of curing, preventing or managing every disease in our children’s lifetime.
“The research by these extraordinary scientists receiving CZBiohub awards exemplifies the exciting opportunities that lie in collaborative research at the intersection of biology and engineering.
“We look forward to the new discoveries benefiting human health that will be made possible by their collaborations,” said Marc Tessier-Lavigne, President of Stanford University.
This diverse group of researchers includes 22 junior investigators and 25 senior investigators, made up of 21 women and 26 men.