Biohub expands virtual cell initiative to $1.8B

Biohub has expanded its Virtual Biology Initiative to $1.8 billion, securing commitments from the U.S. government, Meta, and Google DeepMind. The consortium aims to create a 'universal virtual cell' by aggregating data on trillions of cells, significantly exceeding current datasets of hundreds of millions. DeepMind and Meta are contributing $300 million, with resulting data kept private for one year before public release. This effort positions biology as the next major domain for AI breakthroughs following recent advances in mathematics and coding.