On September 21, Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg announced that their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) would launch a new focus in science, with the ambitious goal of preventing, managing, or curing all diseases by the end of the century.

The first investment in science is initial funding of $600 million over 10 years for the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub — an independent center that will serve as a nexus for basic science research collaborations between experts across multiple disciplines — including engineers, computer scientists, biologists, chemists, and other innovators. The Biohub will immediately launch two research projects to be conducted over the next five years: The Cell Atlas and the Infectious Disease Initiative.

MCB Faculty were invited to apply for BioHub investigatorships in November of 2016 — the initial group of Chan Zuckerberg Investigators will be announced in late January of 2017.

The Biohub represents a partnership between UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, and Stanford University. MCB Professor Robert Tjian is one of the seven influential leaders to comprise the Biohub’s Science Advisory Board; the others are Tobias Bonhoeffer, David Haussler, Art Levinson, Shirley Tilghman, Harold Varmus, and Huda Zoghbi.