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Zuckerberg and Chan Shift Philanthropy to Biohub, Launch AI-Powered Drive to Model Biology

The plan centers on an open, long-horizon research platform led by Alex Rives with a tenfold compute expansion by 2028.

Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), speaks during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Dr. David Baker, Nobel laureate in chemistry, speaks during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, speaks next to his wife, Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, right, speaks next to his wife, Priscilla Chan, co-founder and co-CEO of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), during an event at the Biohub Imaging Institute in Redwood City, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Overview

  • Biohub unveiled a first-of-its-kind initiative combining frontier artificial intelligence with experimental biology to accelerate progress against disease.
  • The EvolutionaryScale team will join the organization, and co-founder Alex Rives becomes head of science overseeing experimental biology, data and AI.
  • New freely available tools include VariantFormer to translate personal genetic variants into tissue-specific gene activity, CryoLens for cryo-ET structural analysis, and scLDM for generating realistic single-cell data.
  • A flagship Virtual Immune System program launches alongside four grand challenges covering a unified AI model of the cell, advanced imaging, real-time inflammation instrumentation, and AI-driven immune reprogramming.
  • Zuckerberg and Chan said Biohub will ramp toward about $1 billion in annual funding over the next decade, building on roughly $4 billion already donated to basic science and their pledge to devote 99% of their wealth.