Biohub started with an ambitious goal of curing, preventing, and managing all disease by the end of the century. A decade later, thanks to the convergence of frontier AI and biological data, that goal may have been too conservative. In this episode, Elad Gil and Sarah Guo sit down with Biohub co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan, alongside Biohub Head of Science Alex Rives. Together, they discuss Biohub’s $500 million virtual biology initiative, which integrates frontier AI with wet-lab work to build predictive world models of cells, proteins, and systems. They also talk about their newly announced open-source engine for digital protein and antibody design, ESMFold2; why Biohub is a nonprofit rather than a venture-backed startup; and how hierarchical simulations will soon allow doctors to treat patients at an individual, mechanistic level.
Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com
Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @Biohub | @finkd | @alexrives | @ChanZuckerberg
Chapters:
00:00 – Cold Open
01:02 - Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Alex Rives Introduction
01:26 – Why Biohub and Their Mission
08:27 – Integrating Frontier AI and Frontier Biology
09:45 – Micro to Macro Biological Modeling
14:22 – Mechanistic Interpretiability
16:58 – Why Biohub is a Non-Profit
21:41 – Understanding How Biology Works
24:23 – Timeline for Curing All Diseases
26:25 – Translating Research to Patient Impact
28:04 – Launch of ESMFold2
32:13 – Tackling Off-Target Effects and Edge Cases
38:39 – Putting the Tech in Individual Hands
41:06 – Talent at Biohub
44:25 – What’s Next After ESMFold2
46:10 – Connecting ESMFold2 to Agentic Systems
46:51 – The Virtual Cell
49:33 – Defining Success for Biohub
51:52 – Biohub Strategy Update
56:20 – Conclusion
