The BioHub is a collaborative effort by UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco and Stanford University, who have joined forces in a new medical science research center funded by a $600 million commitment from Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg and pediatrician Priscilla Chan (philanthropist). It is currently co-lead by Stephen Quake and Joe DeRisi.
The BioHub is presently headquartered next to UCSF’s Mission Bay campus, with a satellite site at Stanford. The BioHub will provide basic researchers and clinical scientists with flexible laboratory space, the latest technological tools and funding for ambitious research projects.
Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and chemistry, Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is a member of the BioHub’s Science Advisory Group. Dr. Doudna is known for her pioneering work on CRISPR-Cas9, a gene-editing technology that has the potential to revolutionize genetics, molecular biology and medicine.
The BioHub will allow researchers at leading institutions to collaborate and accelerate the development of breakthrough scientific and medical advancements, applications and therapeutics.
Two of the three universities in the BioHub already have affiliations with major medical research facilities. Stanford University is affiliated with the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. VAPAHCS maintains the third largest research program in the VA with extensive research centers in geriatrics, mental health, Alzheimer's disease, spinal cord regeneration, schizophrenia, Rehabilitation Research and Development Center, HIV research, and a Health Economics Resource Center. UC San Francisco is affiliated with the San Francisco VA Medical Center. SFVAMC has the largest funded research program in the Veterans Health Administration with $90.2 million in research expenditures (2015). The current Medical Center Director is Bonnie S. Graham. UC Berkeley, though not having a hospital affiliation, has a premier research botanical garden, the University of California Botanical Garden. This and other botanical gardens will serve as a resource for BioHub pharmacology research.