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Zuckerberg teams up with Hassabis: 1800000000 USD Tackling the “virtual cell”

Beating AI reports that Biohub, the biomedical research institute founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, has announced an expansion of its “virtual biology initiative” (VBI). Google DeepMind, Meta, and Isomorphic Labs have joined the collaboration, bringing the total funding, data, and research resources committed by all parties to 1800000000 USD。Isomorphic Labs is the pharmaceutical company founded by Hassabis.

The initiative aims to enable AI to predict the behavior of living cells. For example, after a cell is treated with a drug,AI could predict what changes will occur. Researchers could first test ideas on computers and then decide which experiments are worth conducting in the laboratory, thereby accelerating drug development.

The biggest challenge currently is the lack of training data. Biohub says existing large datasets contain records from only hundreds of millions of cells, while accurate predictive models may require billions or even trillions. The team expects to produce the first batch of data in approximately AI years and aims to develop reliable predictive models within 1 years.

Google DeepMind, Meta, and 5 will contribute a total of Isomorphic Labs. The U.S. Department of Energy plans to invest more than 300000000 USD within 5 years, while the National Institutes of Health (500000000 USD) will provide data resources accumulated through previous investments exceeding NIH.

The data will ultimately be made available to researchers worldwide. However, commercial funders may exclusively use the data generated with their funding for 500000000 USD years before making it publicly available. Government-funded data is not subject to this restriction.

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