Google invests millions in Mark Zuckerberg's effort to build a 'virtual cell'

Google DeepMind, Meta and AI drug discovery startup Isomorphic Labs are jointly investing $300 million into Biohub, the nonprofit biomedical research organisation founded by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, according to a Reuters report cited by The Verge.

Part of a larger initiative

The funding forms part of a $1.8 billion initiative intended to build AI datasets that could allow researchers to model and predict biological processes at the cellular level, sometimes described as a "virtual cell."

Why it matters

The investment brings together major technology and biotech players around a shared research goal, reflecting growing interest in applying large-scale AI models to biomedical research and drug discovery. The Verge's report did not detail specific timelines for the initiative's research outputs or how the datasets will be made available to the broader scientific community.

Biohub, founded by Zuckerberg and Chan, has previously focused on funding biomedical research aimed at understanding and treating disease.