virtual cell AI research

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, Google DeepMind and Meta are expanding a $1.8 billion initiative to build virtual cells: AI-powered computer models that simulate how cells work in health and disease. The effort aims to speed up disease research by letting scientists test hypotheses computationally before running lab experiments. Supporters say virtual cells could transform biology much as AI has transformed protein structure prediction.

Biohub is broadening its $1.8 billion initiative to develop AI-driven 'virtual cell' models, aiming to simulate biological cell behaviour computationally and accelerate drug discovery and disease research. The expansion scales up funding and partnerships across computational biology and artificial intelligence, positioning the effort as one of the largest attempts to model cellular systems digitally.

Researchers from CZ Biohub, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's research hub, along with the U.S. government and Google, are building a virtual cell — an AI-based computational model of how cells work. The project is being described as the beginning of a new scientific paradigm for biology, promising to speed up research into disease and cellular behaviour.