What Are Virtual Cells and Their Promise

Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg join a16z’s Ben Horowitz, Erik Torenberg, and Vineeta Agarwala to share how the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is building the computational tools that will accelerate the cure, prevention, and management of all disease by century's end. They explain why basic science needs $100 million-scale projects that traditional NIH grants can't fund, how their Cell Atlas became biology's missing periodic table with millions of cells catalogued in open-source format, and why their new virtual cell models will let scientists test high-risk hypotheses in silico before investing in expensive wet lab work. Plus: the organizational shift unifying the Biohub under AI leadership, what happens when biologists and engineers sit side-by-side, and why modern biology labs are expanding compute instead of square footage.

Timestamps:

4:17 - Building tools to accelerate scientific discovery

5:47 - The credible path to funding basic science

7:21 - Biohub = Frontier Biology + Frontier AI

9:05 - Challenges building on a 10-15 year timeline

9:43 - How CZI chooses what to work on

11:15 - Making sense of science with LLMs

11:31 - Measuring success in the therapeutic realm

13:32 - “Most diseases should be thought of as rare diseases”

15:39 - Inspiration: building a periodic table for biology

19:27 - Why virtual cells?

21:17 - The Biohub Master Plan

21:51 - How virtual cell models allow more risk taking

28:15 - Bringing CZI & Biohub together

30:32 - Why Biohub matters

33:36 - The importance of interface design in democratizing scientific discovery

35:34 - How Biohub encourages cross-functional collaboration
40:38 - Looking ahead: the broader impact of AI on biotech

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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