SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22 (UPI) — Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, announced a $3 billion commitment to technology to fight disease.
Their philanthropic arm, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC, will see the first investment, $600 million, create a San Francisco research laboratory for engineers and scientists, Chan said in unveiling the donation Wednesday.
The lab, called Biohub, is a partnership with local universities, and is tasked with exploring new ways to combat diseases, specifically with computer technology.
Referring to moments in her career as a pediatrician in which she broke bad news to parents, she commented “In those moments and in many others we’re at the limit of what we understand about the human body and disease, the science behind medicine, the limit of our ability to alleviate suffering. We want to push back that boundary.”
The couple’s Facebook entry announcing the news said, “Mark and Priscilla are so excited to share our next major initiative, supporting scientific research to help cure, prevent and manage all diseases in our children’s lifetime.”
In remarks Wednesday, Zuckerberg noted new tools often preceded scientific breakthroughs, citing the microscope and the telescope as examples. He suggested computers could analyze large databases of cancer genomes and could develop a map “of all the different kinds of cell types in our body” to be used by designers of drugs as a quick reference.
Chan and Zuckerberg said that, in developing their philanthropic program, they spoke to dozens of scientists who convinced them the cure and prevention of diseases can be achieved by the end of the century.
