Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have announced a new initiative called Chan-Zuckerberg Science on Thursday at a function held at the University of California, San Francisco’s (UCSF) William J Rutter Center.
The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, the philanthropic arm of the couple, will invest about $3 billion in 10 years to develop technology to cure all diseases, reported Tech Crunch.
The program will bring together scientists and technology experts from around the world to build new tools for the scientific community which will help cure all diseases.
“We’ll be investing in basic science research with the goal of curing disease. As a pediatrician I’ve worked with families at the most difficult moments of their lives”, Chan said.
According to the couple, special focus will be given to heart disease, cancer, infectious diseases and neurological diseases as they cause the majority of deaths in the world.
Apart from bringing scientists and engineers together to build tools and technology, the program led by American neurobiologist Cornelia Bargmann will also trigger the movement to fund science.
From the investment, $600m will be used to build a “Biohub” at UCSF, for bringing together scientists and engineers from Stanford, Berkeley, and UCSF. They will build tools and technology for curing diseases and help the world manage diseases. UCSF’s Joe DeRisi and Stanford’s Stephen Quake will lead the team in the bio hub.
“Throughout the history of science, most of the major scientific breakthroughs have been preceded by some new tool and technology that allows you to see in new ways,” explained Zuckerberg.
Another focal area will be the development of transformative technology which will be made available to scientists across the world. Scientists will create new tools for the treatment and prevention of diseases.
Zuckerberg listed out the technologies required for developing innovative tools. “AI software to help with imaging the brain…to make progress on neurological diseases, machine learning to analyze large databases of cancer genomes, a chip to be able to diagnose any infectious disease, continuous bloodstream monitoring to be able to identify and catch any disease early, or a map of all of the kinds of cell types in our bodies and the different states that they can be in so that people who are designing drugs can reference that to quickly design something for any given disease that’s out there,” he said.
The third area is called a cell atlas, in which singular cell sequencing technologies and genome editing will be used to understand cells thoroughly to improve treatment for cancer, diabetes, infection, and many other deadly diseases.
Virtual institutes called ‘challenge networks’ will be formed to address certain diseases, build specific technologies, and undertake long-term investigations.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who attended the event, praised the efforts of Zuckerberg and Chan.
“The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative is already doing some very promising work in improving the education of all students. It’s amazing they are taking on another bold challenge,” said Gates.
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