Biohub expanded its Virtual Biology Initiative on Oct. 7 with U.S. agencies and private partners, putting combined resources at $1.8 billion. The organization says the total spans funding, biological data, computing and measurement technology.
The contributions cover different parts of the work. The Department of Energy plans to invest more than $500 million over five years in cell research, measurement, modeling and computation. The National Institutes of Health will coordinate datasets and repositories developed through more than $500 million in prior federal investment aligned to the effort. Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs and Meta are contributing $300 million collectively. Biohub’s $500 million anchor for the initiative was announced in April.
The plan is to collect measurements of how cells respond to experimental changes across more cell types and conditions, then make those data usable for training predictive models. The datasets will combine different kinds of biological measurements, or modalities. Biohub says it will standardize existing NIH datasets and build common identifiers and a shared access point. DOE adds imaging, supercomputing and autonomous laboratories.
The October announcements describe data and research infrastructure for future models. They report no completed virtual-cell model and no benchmark showing how accurately one can predict a cell’s response to such a change.
Image: 8x57is, “Multicolor fluorescence image of living HeLa cells”, CC BY-SA 4.0; unmodified.
Sources
Biohub’s Oct. 7 announcement; DOE’s Oct. 7 agreement; Biohub’s April initiative launch.