Jewish billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, are helping fund research that could make finding new treatments faster, with their nonprofit Biohub’s $500 million pledge now part of a $1.8 billion effort backed by Google, Meta and the U.S. government.
Announced October 7, the expansion brings together money, research data and computing resources to help scientists understand how human cells respond to disease and treatment. The goal is to build AI tools that let researchers test ideas on computers before choosing the most promising ones for laboratory experiments.
Biohub made its five-year pledge in April, with $100 million supporting outside researchers and $400 million supporting its own research and technology. The aim is to help scientists worldwide find better ways to prevent and treat disease.