Facebook CEO and philanthropist Mark Zuckerberg announces the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's first investment in science at a Sept. 21 event at UCSF Mission Bay. Photo by Drew Altizer Photography
Fifteen UC San Francisco faculty members have been named to the first cohort of Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigators.
The CZ Biohub is an independent nonprofit research organization formed as a collaboration between UCSF, UC Berkeley and Stanford University with the goal of inventing new tools to accelerate transformative advances in the life sciences. CZ Biohub is funded by a $600 million commitment from Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg and pediatrician Priscilla Chan, and it is the first philanthropic science investment made by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is dedicated to advancing human potential and promoting equality.
The first cohort of CZ Biohub Investigators includes 47 faculty members from the three universities. The group includes both highly accomplished senior professors as well as up-and-coming young faculty. UCSF has nine senior investigators and six junior investigators in the cohort.
Each of the investigators will receive a five-year appointment and up to $1.5 million in unrestricted funding to conduct life science research in their respective areas of expertise.
“CZ Biohub Investigators share our vision of a planet without disease,” said Joseph DeRisi, PhD, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UCSF and co-president of CZ Biohub with Stephen Quake, PhD, of Stanford. “To realize this vision, we are giving some of the world’s most creative and brilliant researchers access to groundbreaking technology and the freedom to pursue high-risk research. CZ Biohub Investigators will challenge traditional thinking in pursuit of radical discoveries that will make even the most stubborn and deadly diseases treatable.”
The nine senior investigators from UCSF are:
- Adam Abate, PhD
- Hana El-Samad, PhD
- Zev Gartner, PhD *** HDFCCC Member
- Bryan Greenhouse, MD
- Bo Huang, PhD
- Tanja Kortemme, PhD
- Hiten Madhani, MD, PhD *** HDFCCC Member
- Katherine Pollard, PhD
- James Wells, PhD *** HDFCCC Member
The six junior investigators from UCSF are:
- Adam Frost, MD, PhD
- Lisa Gunaydin, PhD
- Martin Kampmann, PhD *** HDFCCC Member
- Alex Marson, MD, PhD *** HDFCCC Member
- Oren Rosenberg, MD, PhD
- Kole Roybal, PhD