Zuckerberg-Chan basic science research gift is visionary
By Bob Conn and Marc Kastner
Scientists and non-scientists alike took note yesterday when pediatrician Priscilla Chan and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced their major research initiative in pursuit of an ambitious goal: to cure, prevent or manage all disease by the end of the century.
Their approach to this inspiring goal, supported by a commitment of $3 billion, is a smart one.
The emphasis on basic science research, as opposed to applied research, is critical.
Basic research already has led to technologies that have transformed health care, including laser surgery, MRIs and drugs for cancer and heart disease. Without basic research, we are unlikely to advance far against the burden of disease.
A recent article in Science noted that significant progress against cancer began only when researchers started exploring the genetic underpinnings of the disease. Likewise, with Alzheimer’s, there is little hope of finding a cure until we increase our understanding of how the brain works.
Yet funding for basic research is under pressure. Federal funding of research and development at higher education institutions has declined 11 percent since 2011. Fully 88 percent of scientists affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science call lack of funding for basic research a serious problem.
There are also indications that the drought is prompting talented researchers to leave the field. The NIH’s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which supports research for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, has documented a steady decline in both grant awards and grant applications for basic science going back to 1997.
While philanthropists cannot match the tens of billions that the federal government allocates to research, they can help fill the gap. With the right investments, private funders can achieve what government funding, which is increasingly risk-averse, cannot readily do.
For instance, Chan and Zuckerberg are investing in the development of new tools and technology for basic science researchers. From our perspectives, as a physicist and an engineer, the right tools can catalyze breakthrough discoveries. It was a focus on tools and technology that led to the successful Human Genome Project, now indispensable to the study of many diseases.
Cori Bargmann, an awardwinning neuroscientist and co-chair of the government’s BRAIN Initiative, will lead their science work. Dr. Bargmann is well respected for her commitment to basic science. In fact, it was her basic research with rat tumors that paved the way for the lifesaving breast cancer drug Herceptin.
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg and Chan have pledged $600 million to establish a new “Biohub” that brings together three of the world’s leaders in the life sciences and engineering: UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley and Stanford University.
Led by two outstanding researchers, Stephen Quake and Joseph DeRisi, the Biohub will combine engineering and physical sciences with life science. It will be housed in a new state-of-the-art research institute equipped with cutting-edge tech tools. Quake and DeRisi will encourage their colleagues to think big and propose risk-taking collaborations in basic research focused on both chronic and infectious threats.
It’s impossible to predict whether, by century’s end, human innovation will triumph over the cunning and complicated biology of disease. But our experience shows that focusing on basic science and multidisciplinary approaches holds the most promise. We are optimistic that with support from philanthropists like Chan and Zuckerberg, who offer both a strategy and solid support, we can make significant progress toward such an inspiring vision. Bob Conn, president and CEO of The Kavli Foundation, is board chair of the Science Philanthropy Alliance. Marc Kastner is president of the Palo Alto-based Alliance, which advises science philanthropists, including the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. They wrote this for The Mercury News.