CZ Biohub San Francisco Newsroom

Frogs, genes, and cellular antennae: Unlocking the biology of autism

Using frogs as a model organism, CZ Biohub SF Investigator Helen Willsey is revealing surprising connections between autism and hair-like structures on the surfaces of our cells

A vaccine against dementia?

CZ Biohub San Francisco Investigator analyzes health record data to find evidence that a shingles vaccine can lower the chances of developing dementia

Arming Burkina Faso scientists with new skills to fight dengue and other infectious diseases

Collaborations between CZ Biohub San Francisco and the Global Fund empower Burkina Faso to develop pathogen genomics testing capacities

Location, location: Researchers map proteins across human cells

Organelle Profiling, developed by CZ Biohub San Francisco scientists, is a new tool to understand cells at an unprecedented level of detail

A simple model for an intricate, ever-evolving structure

Scientists use math and physics to address the mystery of just how the endoplasmic reticulum, an organelle essential to life at the cellular level, continually re-arranges itself.

Scientists Create Comprehensive Map of Protein Locations within Human Cells

Like workers at a factory or office, proteins in a cell must be in the right department to do their jobs. But scientists have yet to fully map the cell’s organization, much less determine how these cellular “employees” may be...

Joe DeRisi Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award by Stanford Medicine

The Stanford Medicine Alumni Association (SMAA) has selected Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco President and UC San Francisco Professor Joe DeRisi as a recipient of the Arthur Kornberg and Paul Berg Lifetime Achievement Award in...

AI powers a better way to diagnose malaria

CZ Biohub San Francisco’s Remoscope shows promise in clinical study

Family loss spurs quest for knowledge

For CZ Biohub San Francisco research associate Rodrigo Baltazar-Nuñez, science is personal

New Partnerships to Provide Travel Grants, Coursework in Genomic Approaches to Infectious Disease For Underrepresented Aspiring Physicians

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco (CZ Biohub SF) and The 15 White Coats, Inc., have launched two initiatives that will provide travel grants as well as coursework in metagenomic sequencing and genomic epidemiology to aspiring...

Can researchers use AI to take microscopy to the next level?

[Chemical & Engineering News] From virtual staining to lensless microscopes, researchers are capitalizing on artificial intelligence to rethink microscopy

Scientists launch amazing ‘atlas’ of embryos, showing how cells move and develop through time

[Live Science] “Zebrahub” is an atlas of cells in developing zebrafish embryos, and scientists say it will help us learn about our own biology, too.

Everything everywhere all at once: ‘Zebrahub’ tracks development like never before

A ‘Google Earth’ of embryology, CZ Biohub San Francisco's zebrafish cell atlas brings a new vision to developmental biology

Researchers decipher MIS-C, the scary illness that followed COVID in some kids

[NPR] “Think of it like collateral damage or friendly fire,” Joe DeRisi says.

What Causes Dangerous Inflammation in Children With Covid?

[The New York Times] The sometimes fatal condition, MIS-C, may be driven in part by a misdirected immune system, a new study finds.

Scientists Get to the Bottom of COVID’s Worst Pediatric Complication

Early in the pandemic, some children fought off COVID with few, if any, symptoms, only to go into organ failure a few weeks later. Most recovered after aggressive treatment, but their sudden illness, dubbed multisystem inflammatory syndrome...

At the intersection of machine learning and life science

Yasin Şenbabaoğlu, CZ Biohub SF’s new Director of Computational Biology, is working to reveal hidden patterns in health and disease

With New Omega Tool, Scientists Can Rapidly Analyze Complex Biological Images through AI-Powered ‘Conversations’

In a new research article, scientists at Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco (CZ Biohub SF) describe Omega, an open-source software tool that significantly advances the field of bioimage analysis. Omega harnesses the power of large...

Lung Microbiomes Predict Mortality in Children Following Bone Marrow Transplant

For children who undergo bone marrow transplants, even mild respiratory infections can turn deadly. Now, using a sophisticated method that rapidly and comprehensively identifies all potentially pathogenic organisms present in the lungs, an...

Blazing new trails

A rock-climbing scientist brings his exploratory spirit to science and medicine

An interview with Sandra Schmid – Chief Scientific Officer of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub

From “bucket biochemist” to scientific leader, Sandra Schmid reflects on a life in the life sciences.

A special visit with a nonagenarian expert in pathogenic amoebae

Brain-eating amoeba brings together researchers from CZ Biohub SF, UCSF, and the California Department of Public Health

Riddle of the sphinx

Probing the sphinx tile to explore geometry and chirality in life

Mind-blowing science: ‘Star Wars-style’ holograms to communicate with the brain

About 20 years ago, neuroscientists, recording from electrodes implanted in the medial temporal lobe, identified human brain cells that respond only to photos of Jennifer Aniston.

Obsessed with the nucleus

CZ Biohub San Francisco Investigator Hawa Racine Thiam’s new Stanford lab applies physics to the study of cells and their nuclei

Long Presumed to Have No Heads at All, Sea Stars May Be Nothing But

For centuries, naturalists have puzzled over what might constitute the head of a sea star, commonly called a “starfish.” When looking at a worm, or a fish, it’s clear which end is the head and which is the tail. But with their five...

Unraveling the mystery of brain infections

In the last couple decades, Malaysia has emerged as a global hotspot for neuroinfections such as encephalitis. Now a team from Universiti Malaya is collaborating with CZ Biohub SF to use metagenomics next-generation sequencing to help to...

Diversity in academic hiring: a success story

CZ Biohub SF-backed NextGen initiative succeeds in diversifying faculty hiring in biological and biomedical sciences at major Bay Area universities

Meet The Doctor Who Solves Medical Mysteries

[Science Friday podcast] Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with Joe DeRisi about his fascinating work solving some of the most vexing medical mysteries, and how it may even help detect the next pandemic-inducing pathogen.

San Francisco scientists use AI to help fight malaria

[Mission Local] With all the talk of artificial intelligence swallowing the world, a group of San Francisco scientists have finally discovered a real-world application: Detecting malaria, a deadly disease that claims over half a million...

Bolivian biologists building a better future for science and health

Three generations of scientists visit CZ Biohub SF to learn metagenomic sequencing techniques and analysis

Seeing the big picture

In an extraordinarily effective collaboration, intercampus team creates highly detailed images of one the world’s most prevalent parasites

Arming public health practitioners with a disease-tracking toolkit

CZ Biohub San Francisco’s genomic epidemiology training empowered local health officials to respond to COVID and more

Does shingles vaccination cut dementia risk? Large study hints at a link

Read the full article at Nature.

Learning to ‘speak amino acid’: How language models can change our approach to medicine

Biohub-affiliated researchers are using the technology behind AI chatbots to unlock codes in human biology.

Physics of Life Symposium 2023

View the playlist from the Physics of Life Symposium.

Cracking the Puzzle of Lower Respiratory Tract Infection in Children

Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI), which includes conditions such as pneumonia, has long been the leading cause of death from communicable agents and a leading cause of death in children worldwide. But despite its prevalence, LRTI is...

An Age-Old Battle: Scientists Uncover What Makes Malaria Such a Wily Foe

Plasmodium falciparum, the parasite that causes the deadliest form of malaria in humans, is a master evader, and has dodged all attempts at an effective and durable vaccine. Now, using a sophisticated method that characterizes how...

A cartography of human histology is in the making

Read the full article at The Economist (subscription needed). Open a courtesy PDF.

CZ Biohub San Francisco Announces New Cohort of Physician-Scientist Fellows

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco has selected 11 early-career physicians at Stanford School of Medicine and UC San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine to pursue their interests in biomedical research through the CZ Biohub SF...

Uncommon test solved a Mission medical mystery

How An Early Warning Radar Could Prevent Future Pandemics

Even a Brain-Eating Amoeba Can’t Hide From This Cutting-Edge DNA Tech

A technology that can screen for a wide range of disease-causing microbes in a single test could be a game-changer in diagnosing all kinds of infections. Joe DeRisi and other proponents of metagenomic sequencing say it is poised to...

Repurposed drug battles ‘brain-eating’ amoeba

A drug developed to quell urinary tract infections also appears to be a promising treatment for Balamuthia mandrillaris

Test for Covid-19, RSV, and flu all at once at 24th and Capp

Joe DeRisi on a new project with UCSF and Unidos en Salud to test for respiratory viruses, including using metagenomic sequencing if patients are negative for RSV, flu, and Covid.

For Biohub’s newest research associate, a different kind of gap year

Music, dance, cell culture – Leila Njoya does it all.

Seeing malaria in a new light

CZ Biohub’s Bioengineering team sends custom microscopes to Uganda to test out a new approach to diagnosing malaria

Bringing physics to life: Upcoming Biohub conference will merge physics and biology

Building on CZ Biohub’s mission of bringing together leading researchers in the Bay Area, symposium will foster collaboration between fields

Creator of Biohub’s ‘cytoself’ protein-localization method named 2022 STAT Wunderkind

Kobayashi cited as among 'the brightest young minds' in research

Biohub Investigators receive NIH support for ‘exceptionally creative, highly innovative’ ideas

Six Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigators are among the 2022 grantees of the High-Risk, High-Reward Program

New Partnership Between Gladstone Institutes and CZ Biohub

SAN FRANCISCO (October 26, 2022) – Gladstone Institutes and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub) signed an affiliation agreement to increase their research collaboration. The two San Francisco organizations, both located in the...

Machine Learning Enables ‘Almost Perfect’ Diagnosis of an Elusive Global Killer

Sepsis, the overreaction of the immune system in response to an infection, causes an estimated 20% of deaths globally and as many as 20 to 50% of U.S. hospital deaths each year. Despite its prevalence and severity, however, the condition is...

Building a global network of disease detectives

‘CZ ID’ platform is helping researchers around the world identify new pathogens

Science as a team sport 

New Group Leader brings a people-first approach to research

An ocean of possibilities

CZ Biohub works with Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station to study sea creatures at the molecular and genomic level

Calling all LEGO builders! Put your skills to use assembling a light-sheet microscope

CZ Biohub’s game-changing microscope seeks to inspire an international community of builders

‘Collaboration is powerful’: a conversation with Biohub scientist Carolina Arias

It seems that Carolina Arias was destined to be a virologist. As a little girl growing up in Bogotá, she often accompanied her mother, a bacteriologist, to her clinical lab and watched her analyze samples from patients to figure out what...

Biohub scientist wins ‘Innovation in Research’ award for distinguished contributions to cell biology

American Society for Cell Biology honors Group Leader Manuel Leonetti for OpenCell project

From bedside to bench: Teaching doctors to be scientists too

CZ Biohub’s Physician-Scientist Fellowship helps bridge the gap between the clinic and the research lab

Growing old: Does cell size trigger cellular aging?

New work by CZ Biohub and Stanford scientists suggests that cells become senescent when they grow too large

What New Cell Biology Can AI Reveal Just by Looking at Images? A Lot!

What New Cell Biology Can AI Reveal Just by Looking at Images? A Lot!

Humans are good at looking at images and finding patterns or making comparisons. Look at a collection of dog photos, for example, and you can sort them by color, by ear size, by face shape, and so on. But could you compare them...

Pharma Leader Joins CZ Biohub as Chief Operating Officer

SAN FRANCISCO (July 11, 2022) – The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub) has named Mandana Asgharnejad as its new chief operating officer (COO), effective July 13, 2022. Mandana (who uses her first name professionally) joins CZ Biohub from...

Keir Balla doesn’t have all the answers, and that’s exactly how he likes it

New Group Leader brings an exploratory spirit to the Biohub

Does a warming Earth mean more sickness?

How climate change is increasing the risk of infectious disease

‘Tabula Sapiens’ Multi-Organ Cell Atlas Already Yielding Surprises for Biologists

With rare exceptions, each of the trillions of cells in our bodies carries an exact duplicate of the human genome, which contains between 20,000 and 25,000 protein-coding genes. But to perform the specialized functions that make life...

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Names Chief Legal Officer

SAN FRANCISCO (May 2, 2022) – The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has named Melinda Griffith as its new chief legal officer (CLO). Griffith joins CZ Biohub from the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, where she has served as chief legal...

Mapping the fly

CZ Biohub joins international effort to build the first cell atlas for a mainstay of biology

Old mouse, new tech

The Tabula Muris Consortium probes the mysteries of ‘young blood’ at the single-cell level

CZ Biohub-built ‘DaXi’ microscope advances light-sheet imaging

3D rendering and video by Lachlan Whitehead/The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research SAN FRANCISCO, CA (March 21, 2022) – When biologists use genetic tricks to make the cells of model organisms fluorescent, the...

From parts list to blueprint: OpenCell lights the way

Scientists have made great strides in understanding the complexity of the cell in the nearly 360 years since English polymath Robert Hooke discovered this smallest unit of life. The anatomy of the cell and functions of its various internal...

Biohub–Stanford research offers a new window on celiac disease

For most of us, cutting out one or two unhealthy food items from our diet may be an efficient way to manage health, but the estimated 2 million people in the U.S. who live with celiac disease must permanently eliminate all foods containing...

Amy Herr named Chief Technology Officer for Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network

San Francisco, CA (February 28, 2022) – The newly established Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network announced today that bioengineer and University of California, Berkeley professor Amy E. Herr has been appointed as Chief Technology Officer...

CZ Biohub welcomes new university-nominated Investigators

We are delighted to announce the appointment of a stellar new group of Biohub Investigators who have been selected through nominations by our three partner universities—Stanford University, UC San Francisco, and UC Berkeley. All 10 of...

In the blood: How fatherhood shaped one scientist’s path

Fatherhood has had a major impact on Steve Quake’s scientific career. Years ago, when Quake and his wife were expecting their first child, a prenatal exam quickly took a startling turn. The doctor recommended amniocentesis to test the...

A decade of molecular cell atlases

The development of molecular cell atlases has been crucially dependent on technological advances, which can be traced back three decades. Steve Quake revisits discoveries that transformed genetics.

Who’s feeding the fish? The robot!

Biohub-built ‘ZAF’ automates zebrafish care in the lab

A popular at-home test detects most infectious Omicron cases, a study suggests.

A new study authored by Joe DeRisi provides reassurance that the BinaxNow test is performing as expected in catching Omicron infections.

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub announces $86 million in new funding to Investigators at Stanford, UCSF, and UC Berkeley for visionary early-stage research

SAN FRANCISCO – The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub announced the second cohort of scientists to be named CZ Biohub Investigators. The Investigator Program, open to faculty members at Stanford University, UC San Francisco, and UC Berkeley,...

Co-presidents’ perspective: Five years in, a new beginning

Biohub’s success inspires CZI to extend and expand support through 2031, replicate our model in new CZ Biohub Network

Python power-up: new image tool visualizes complex data

How enzymes weather mutations

‘Lab-on-a-chip’ platform enables a holistic approach to understanding how enzymes’ activity is optimized

Viral loads similar between vaccinated and unvaccinated people

A new survey from Unidos en Salud, which CZ Biohub is a part of, underscores importance of masks and testing along with vaccines.

Widening the path

Transformation of CZ Biohub’s summer internships aims to build more diverse teams, foster an inclusive environment in STEM careers

The viruses that buzz around us

Sequencing all the RNA within individual mosquitoes can identify the potentially harmful viruses and emerging pathogens these insect vectors carry and transmit, as well as their animal reservoirs

The cell as a bag of RNA

Single-cell transcriptomics techniques enable one to abstract the cell as if it were a ‘bag of RNA’, enabling profound insight into the nature of cell state and cell identity.

Getting the stains out

CZ Biohub scientists are building an automated imaging system for low-resource settings to reliably detect malaria in blood samples

ABC7 team tries out at-home COVID-19 antigen tests

If you’re positive, you find out in minutes and can quarantine right away rather than waiting 48 hours or so for PCR test results.

Wild adaptations

Like Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen, cholera bacteria and their viral nemeses run a never-ending race just to keep up with each other

Doctors, scientists who warned officials about oncoming pandemic focus of new Michael Lewis book

In his new book, Michael Lewis profiles people who tried to sound the alarm about COVID-19 as officials failed to act – including CZ Biohub Co-President Dr. Joe DeRisi.

Why did the CDC update its mask guidance? Some breakthrough cases may be infectious, data shows

Even if you’re vaccinated, you could be spreading COVD-19 to others if you’re infected — that’s why the CDC is now encouraging indoor mask wearing.

More variants are coming, and the U.S. isn’t ready to track them

The people hunting for mutations want the country to fix its virus sequencing mess.

Science and Public Health in the Post-Pandemic Age

Carl Zimmer of the New York Times and CZ Biohub Co-President Joe DeRisi discussed the impact of COVID-19 on science and public health

From accelerating particles to advancing public health

An engineering physicist reflects on his role in CZ Biohub’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic

‘Cool’ collaboration cracks a SARS-CoV-2 protein structure

Unique study combines cryoEM, AI to forge atomic-level model of Nsp2

Location, location, location

The organization of cells into discrete compartments such as cilia and endosomes allows for localized decision-making.

Working remotely, Stanford team devises a much-needed medical device

A virtual collaboration overcame supply-chain constraints to quickly develop a versatile, low-cost ventilator for COVID-19 patients.

The Disease Detective

Joe DeRisi invented a way to find pathogens that scientists didn’t even know to look for. Can it help prevent the next pandemic?

New Approach Combining Ultrasound Imaging and AI Doubles Accuracy at Detecting Fetal Heart Flaws in the Womb

Researchers have found a way to double doctors’ accuracy in detecting the vast majority of complex fetal heart defects in utero by combining routine ultrasound imaging with machine-learning computer tools.

From two unusual organ donations, scientists garner a unique trove of single-cell genetic data

A Biohub project, Tabula Sapiens, aims to create an atlas of single-cell gene expression that will allow scientists to control for factors like genetic inheritance, age, epigenetics, and environment.

Meet Joe DeRisi, the virus hunter who foresaw the Covid pandemic

He’d just been reading the news, like everyone else. He had no special access to any new disease outbreak, and no one would have expected him to intervene. All that Joe DeRisi had was his new lab at the University of California, San...

Mission Critical: Priscilla Chan and the Fight Against COVID-19 in San Francisco’s Latino Community

The pandemic has hit Latino families harder than any other ethnic group in the Bay Area, and now an all-star team of researchers and community organizers backed by funds from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is working to change that

Tiny wireless implant detects oxygen deep within the body

Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have created a tiny wireless implant that can provide real-time measurements of tissue oxygen levels deep underneath the skin. The device, which is smaller than the average ladybug and...

Synchronized editing: the future of collaborative writing

Draft scientific manuscripts are typically confidential. So, when Elana Fertig was asked to take a look at an in-development paper on a functional gene-annotation strategy, she expected to receive the file in a private e-mail. What she got...

Studies Examine Variant Surging in California, and the News Isn’t Good

A variant first discovered in California in December is more contagious than earlier forms of the coronavirus, two new studies have shown, fueling concerns that emerging mutants like this one could hamper the sharp decline in cases over...

How to Build a COVID Testing Lab in Eight Days

On January 25, a man vacationing in Cambodia with his family went swimming in their hotel pool. After toweling off, he spiked a fever and was sent to a local hospital, where his nose and throat were swabbed and the samples were tested for a...

Brain Cells Most Vulnerable to Alzheimer’s Disease Identified by Scientists

A major mystery in Alzheimer’s disease research is why some brain cells succumb to the creeping pathology of the disease years before symptoms first appear, while others seem impervious to the degeneration surrounding them until the...

CZ Biohub Announces Inaugural Cohort for Physician-Scientist Fellowship Program and Call for Applications for the Next Competition

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has selected eleven early-career physicians at Stanford University and the University of California, San Francisco, to pursue their interests in biomedical research through the newly launched CZ Biohub...

The making of the Biohub

A global pandemic is something Joe DeRisi has been preparing for his entire career. What he didn’t expect was that the viral scourge would ravage so close to home. DeRisi was in the process of standing up sequencing technology to help...

San Francisco Was Uniquely Prepared for Covid-19

To live in San Francisco for the past 20 years has been to live with outrage that a society so innovative and compassionate can so reliably fail to meet even the most basic challenges of public life. This city never stopped being...

The New Weapon in the Covid-19 War

No one who passed the young woman on the street that night gave her so much as a second glance. It was a Saturday evening in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco and she was heading away from the stadium where the San Francisco...

UCSF, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, CZ Biohub, and the State of California Partner to Expand and Utilize Clinical Testing Capacity for COVID-19

UCSF TO EXPAND COVID-19 CLINICAL LABORATORY FACILITIES WITH THE COLLABORATION OF THE CHAN ZUCKERBERG BIOHUB Supported by an executive order from California Governor Gavin Newsom, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the Chan Zuckerberg...

Armed With Swabs, Covid Hunters Stalk Their Prey

Word got out here that nasal swabs were the only thing standing between Northern California and a lot of coronavirus testing, and people with a talent for figuring out things began to figure things out. Marc Benioff, the chief executive of...

The COVID Test Lab That Could Save America

A decade ago Joe DeRisi received a letter from a woman with a picture of herself wrapped in a boa constrictor. “I heard you’re a virus hunter,” the letter began before going on to explain that the snake, which she referred to as...

CZ Biohub Launches Physician-Scientist Fellowship Program To Promote Medical Research and Discovery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SAN FRANCISCO — The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, a nonprofit medical research organization, has launched the CZ Biohub Physician-Scientist Fellowship Program designed to train the next generation of physician-scientists...

CZ Biohub Hires Global Human Resources Expert Sonya Zilka

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SAN FRANCISCO — May 6, 2019 — The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub), an innovative nonprofit medical research organization, has hired renowned health-tech veteran Sonya Zilka as vice president of human resources....

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Announce First-of-Its-Kind “IDSeq” Platform and Service to Enable Real-Time Global Disease Surveillance and Prevention

New open-source, cloud-based tool rapidly interprets terabytes of data to detect disease-causing pathogens In an ongoing pilot project and partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, IDseq is helping to identify mystery...

Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Awards $13.7 Million to Fund New Intercampus Collaborative Research Programs to Advance Human Health

New funding from CZ Biohub fosters further scientific research collaboration between Stanford; University of California, Berkeley; and University of California, San Francisco CZ Biohub Microbiome Initiative and Intercampus Research Awards...

Law Firm Leader Maureen Sheehy Joins CZ Biohub as General Counsel

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SAN FRANCISCO — Sept. 17, 2018 — The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub), a nonprofit medical research organization, has hired prominent litigation attorney and law firm leader Maureen Sheehy as general counsel....