The CZ Biohub San Francisco and CZ Imaging Institute will join together to develop novel imaging technologies that provide entirely new insights into human biology, led by Dr. Scott FraserREDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced a new grand challenge to develop groundbreaking imaging technologies to transform how scientists observe, measure and understand living cells and organisms. CZI's two powerhouse institutes, CZ Biohub San Francisco and CZ Institute for Advanced Biological Imaging, will leverage their complementary expertise to form a new Biohub unmatched in the field of life science imaging research. They will combine their teams at a new science campus in Redwood City, Calif., adjacent to CZI headquarters."These institutes are leveraging their complementary strengths at a critical moment in biological discovery — when the right combination of technological and scientific expertise can create novel tools to illuminate hidden dynamics of complex systems, like the brain and immune system, to fully understand how they function," said co-founder and co-CEO of CZI, Priscilla Chan.Scott Fraser, CZI's vice president of science grant programs, has accepted the role of president of the Chan Zuckerberg Imaging Institute effective April 1. He will lead the new grand challenge and work with the CZ Imaging Institute, CZ Biohub San Francisco and CZI leaders to lay the groundwork for the two institutes to form a new Biohub, which will join existing institutes in the CZ Biohub Network. Dr

The head of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) believes that artificial intelligence (AI) can accelerate medical research such that it would be possible within 10 to 20 years to stop a disease very early on in its tracks. AI can “put us in a world where we aren’t just trying to treat disease when it’s out of control. We’re actually preventing it at the earliest stages,” said Priscilla Chan, who leads the philanthropic organization founded by her husband, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and herself. She detailed that vision during a presentation Thursday (March 13) at SXSW 2025. The mechanism for this future is a “virtual cell” model that could revolutionize how scientists understand human biology and develop treatments for all diseases. It is an AI model that harnesses generative AI not trained on text but on biological data

Scientist Sundarshan Pinglay shows off a liquid handling instrument that automatically dispenses reagents, at the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology. (GeekWire File Photo / Charlotte Schubert)The Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology is receiving a $10 million grant to support the training of new scientists and the launch of biotech startups pursuing therapies for human diseases. The money comes from the Washington Research Foundation at a time when many researchers are anxious about their futures due to the Trump administration’s promised funding cuts. Seattle Hub opened in January 2024 as a collaboration between the Allen Institute and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which are each contributing $35 million to the effort, and the University of Washington, which is providing foundational technology. The Washington Research Foundation, a nonprofit facilitating tech commercialization, previously gave $105,000 to the hub. Seattle Hub is focused on technology that genetically modifies mammalian cells, enabling them to use DNA to make a recording of what the cell is experiencing over time