US government, Google join Zuckerberg-backed Biohub in $1.8B AI biology push
In short
Biohub, the nonprofit founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, is leading a $1.8 billion collaboration with the US Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs and Meta to build a “universal virtual cell” — an AI model that predicts how cells behave. Google DeepMind, Meta and Isomorphic Labs are investing $300 million, while the Department of Energy will put in more than $500 million over five years, according to The Verge. Axios reported the first phase will map cellular biology, with commercial partners getting one year of exclusive access to the data before it is shared publicly.
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Biohub, the nonprofit biomedical research organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, is leading a collaboration with the US Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, Meta and a group of scientific organizations to build what Biohub calls a “universal virtual cell,” Axios and The Verge reported. [ 1 , 4 ]
The effort sits inside a $1.8 billion “Virtual Biology” initiative to build AI datasets for biology. The Verge reported that Google DeepMind, Meta and Isomorphic Labs are jointly investing $300 million, that the Department of Energy will invest more than $500 million over the next five years, and that the NIH will contribute datasets, repositories and knowledge bases from previous federal investment totalling over $500 million. Axios described the total as $1.8 billion in funding, data, computing and measurement technology, without breaking it down. [ 1 , 4 ]
The stated goal is an AI model that predicts how cells behave, so that scientists can test potential experiments virtually and reserve lab work for the ones most likely to be useful. “An accurate predictive model of biology could dramatically accelerate scientific discovery by enabling scientists to perform experiments digitally,” Alex Rives, Biohub’s head of science, said in a press release quoted by The Verge. He added that a virtual cell “will require coordinated data generation efforts at a national and international scale, which is why these partners are coming together.” [ 1 , 4 ]
The first phase will create a broad map of cellular biology, gathering different kinds of information about cells and how they respond to changes, according to Axios. Axios also reported that commercial partners will have one year of exclusive access to the data they develop before it is shared publicly, a term the other documents do not mention. [ 1 ]
Axios noted that biology is harder than many other AI domains because researchers need what Rives calls “empirical AI” — models that learn from biological evidence and can accurately predict what happens in the physical world. In April, Biohub announced an initial $500 million effort, and Rives told Axios at the time that one of the biggest unanswered questions was whether cellular biology would show the same “scaling laws” seen elsewhere in AI, with models becoming predictably better as they are trained on more data. The Verge reported that Biohub was founded in 2016 and aims to prevent and cure diseases through a “high-accuracy predictive model of the cell.” [ 1 , 4 ]
Why it matters
The documents describe the effort as a way to let scientists test experiments digitally and reserve expensive lab work for the most promising ones, which the participants say could speed up disease research. Axios frames it as a bid to generate vast amounts of biological data for AI, a domain it notes is harder than others because models must learn from biological evidence. Beyond the first mapping phase and the stated funding, the documents give no timeline for when a working virtual cell might exist.
Key facts
- Biohub, the nonprofit biomedical research organization founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, is leading the effort, with the participation of the US Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, Meta and scientific organizations. [ 1 , 4 ]
- The initiative is described as a $1.8 billion push for AI biology data. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- Google DeepMind, Meta and Isomorphic Labs are jointly investing $300 million into the initiative. [ 4 ]
- The Department of Energy will invest more than $500 million over the next five years, and the NIH will contribute datasets, repositories and knowledge bases from previous federal investment totalling over $500 million. [ 4 ]
- The goal is a “universal virtual cell”: an AI model that predicts how cells behave so scientists can test experiments digitally before doing lab work. [ 1 , 4 ]
- The first phase will create a broad map of cellular biology, gathering different kinds of information about cells and how they respond to changes. [ 1 ]
- Commercial partners will have one year of exclusive access to the data they develop before it is shared publicly, Axios reported. [ 1 ]
- Biohub announced an initial $500 million effort in April. [ 1 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- The US government and Google are joining Zuckerberg-backed Biohub in a $1.8 billion push for AI biology data. [ 1 , 2 , 4 ]
- The goal is an AI model of cells — a “virtual cell” or predictive model of the cell — that researchers can use to run biological experiments digitally. [ 1 , 4 ]
- Alex Rives is Biohub’s head of science and is quoted on the project’s aims. [ 1 , 4 ]
Still unclear
- How the $1.8 billion total breaks down among the partners. The Verge lists $300 million from Google DeepMind, Meta and Isomorphic Labs, more than $500 million from the Department of Energy over five years and over $500 million in prior federal investment behind NIH datasets, which do not sum to $1.8 billion; Axios describes the total as funding, data, computing and measurement technology without itemising it.
- The one-year period of exclusive data access for commercial partners before public release. Only Axios reports this term; the other documents do not mention it.
- When a working virtual cell model might be ready. The documents describe a first phase mapping cellular biology but give no target date or timeframe.
- Where Biohub or the collaboration is based. No document states a city or location for the organization or the work.
What local media are saying
Timeline, local time
- Axios publishes its report on the Biohub, Google and US government collaboration. [ 1 ]
- Reuters publishes its English-language report on the $1.8 billion push. [ 2 ]
- Reuters publishes a Spanish-language version of the report. [ 3 ]
- The Verge reports on the $300 million investment by Google DeepMind, Meta and Isomorphic Labs and the wider Virtual Biology initiative. [ 4 ]
- Reuters publishes a Portuguese-language version of the report. [ 5 ]