Physician , educator , and philanthropist Priscilla Chan and her husband , Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg , have announceda wildly ambitious $ 3 billion plan to “ reject , cure , or prevent disease ” by the end of this century .
The couple think to spend their money on canonic skill inquiry — that is , the survey of the cardinal concept and phenomena that make up our world . Basic inquiry is substantive to scientific and aesculapian advancement , yet it ’s often pretermit and underfunded in favour of drug research and other studies with more contiguous potential to change human life . The first step will also support education , wellness research , and cyberspace connectivity , which many count a public health issue in its own right .
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has already signalise on and consulted with a issue of scientific heavy hitters , let in Francis Collins , director of the National Institutes of Health , and Nobel laureateHarold Varmus , a prominent Cancer the Crab researcher .
Perhaps unsurprisingly , the initiative aim to create networks of thinker . “ Building tools requires bring scientists and locomotive engineer together in large number for large period of time , and that ’s not something most science financial support is set up to do , ” ZuckerbergtoldNature . “ That emerge to us as a big opening where we could help grow this apparent movement among other scientific funders . ”
The initiative ’s “ challenge networks ” will bring together teams of scientist from different backgrounds , specialty , and mental home to tackle large - scurf aesculapian issues like neurodegenerative disease .
Superstar neuroscientistCornelia Bargmannwill be the first step ’s “ president of science . ” talk toNature , Bargmann express hullabaloo about the initiative ’s focus on collaboration , which she says may thin redundance and inclose raw direction of intellection .
“ In my science laboratory , everyone now writes computer code ; that ’s a routine like everyone making their own soap , ” she say . “ We should be finding slipway of doing this that are general and powerful , that allow us to interact and share our cognition . ”
[ h / tNature ]
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