Google invests millions in Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to create a ‘virtual cell’
The Zuckerberg-backed Biohub will use the investment to create AI datasets that help researchers ‘ask, predict, and answer biological questions digitally.’
The Zuckerberg-backed Biohub will use the investment to create AI datasets that help researchers ‘ask, predict, and answer biological questions digitally.’
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Google DeepMind, Meta, and AI drug discovery startup Isomorphic Labs are jointly investing $300 million into Biohub, the nonprofit biomedical research organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, as reported by Reuters. The funding is part of a $1.8 billion initiative to build AI datasets that could allow researchers to “ask, predict, and answer biological questions digitally,” helping find new ways to prevent and manage diseases.
Founded in 2016, Biohub aims to combat diseases through the creation of a “virtual cell” that researchers can use to carry out simulations. To support this effort, the US Department of Energy will invest more than $500 million over the next five years, while the National Institutes of Health will contribute datasets, repositories, and knowledge bases stemming from previous federal investment totalling over $500 million.
“An accurate predictive model of biology could dramatically accelerate scientific discovery by enabling scientists to perform experiments digitally,” Alex Rives, Biohub’s head of science, says in the press release. “The creation of a virtual cell is one of the most important challenges for the next era of science. It will require coordinated data generation efforts at a national and international scale, which is why these partners are coming together.”
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