Steve Quake, a Stanford professor who will co-direct the biohub, said at a press conference at UCSF today that it will focus on problems that can not be solved in traditional academic environments or with government funding. Their dog, Beast, came by to sit briefly during the 25-minute interview. “Our society spends 50x more treating people who are sick than on finding cures”.
Advertisement
The $3 billion fund, Zuckerberg explained, will be used to bring together scientists and engineers to help build new tools and technologies to take on the grand challenge.
In addition, they announced that Cori Bargmann, an expert in neuroscience and genetics, will join the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as the President of Science. He said the Biohub would bring together scientists with software engineers, and provide funding for long-term initiatives, in an effort to accelerate scientific discoveries.
The Biohub is a joint partnership among three Bay Area universities: UCSF, Stanford and the University of California and will develop new tools to measure and treat disease.
Zuckerberg said science and the medical community have made rapid advancements over the last 50 years, including eradicating smallpox and almost eliminating polio without the aid of modern technology. They all went on a low-calorie diet, exercised and had counseling and support. The theory was the devices would lead to greater weight loss.
“It’s unbelievable that nobody really knows how many different cell types there are in the human body”, said Stephen Quake, co-director of the Chan Zuckerberg BioHub.
Chan said she and Zuckerberg spent two years talking to scientists. We set a goal: can we cure all diseases in our children’s lifetime? Max is the infant daughter of the couple born in early 2016.
The pledge is among the first investments the couple will make through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which they created a year ago. The couple’s philanthropy plan won’t affect Zuckerberg’s status as controlling shareholder of Facebook. Gates has donated more than $30 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which works to fight hunger, disease and poverty, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Now they have announced in a press conference in San Francisco to invest more to boost basic research.
Advertisement
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan hug on stage after making the announcement.
