Credit: CZI Imaging Scientist Anthony Santella, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Molecular Cytology Core.
Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced $17 million in funding and its selection of 17 CZI Imaging Scientists — engineers, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and biologists with expertise in technology development. The imaging of molecules, cells, and tissues remains central to both biomedical research and clinical practice, yet progress in the imaging field has been slowed by inadequate software and limited sharing of advanced microscopy methods. Read our Medium post to learn more.
These Imaging Scientists will work at imaging centers across the United States and interface between biology, microscopy hardware, and imaging software to accelerate progress in the imaging field, enabling biologists to leverage modern technology for microscopy data.
In September 2018, CZI issued an open request for applications for the Imaging Scientists program. Today’s recipients represent 17 imaging centers across the United States, including five medical imaging centers. Selected Imaging Scientists bring interdisciplinary expertise from fields such as engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry, and biology. View the full list of the CZI Imaging Scientists award recipients.
During the past decade, technical advances in imaging dramatically increased the resolution of light microscopy and electron microscopy. Yet many of these new microscopes have not been commercialized, and software for analyzing these new kinds of data lags behind the advances made in hardware. Improved technological tools and increased interaction between technology experts and biologists will allow biomedical science to push forward even more quickly to cure disease.
Founded by Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is a new kind of philanthropy that’s leveraging technology to help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease, to improving education, to reforming the criminal justice system. Across three core Initiative focus areas of Science, Education, and Justice & Opportunity, we’re pairing engineering with grant-making, impact investing, and policy and advocacy work to help build an inclusive, just and healthy future for everyone. For more information, please visit http://www.chanzuckerberg.com.