No PriorsBiohub: The Future of Biology is Open-Source with Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Alex Rives
Episode Details
EPISODE INFO
- Released
- June 10, 2026
- Duration
- 56m
- Channel
- No Priors
- Watch on YouTube
- ▶ Open ↗
EPISODE DESCRIPTION
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
SPEAKERS
Mark Zuckerberg
guestCEO of Meta and co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), involved in setting CZI/Biohub strategy and priorities.
Alex Rives
guestComputational biologist known for protein foundation models (ESM/ESMFold) and leading AI-for-biology efforts at CZ Biohub.
Sarah Guo
hostCo-host of No Priors and venture capitalist (founder/managing partner at Conviction) focused on AI and startups.
Elad Gil
hostCo-host of No Priors; entrepreneur and investor known for work with high-growth technology companies and AI talent/hiring.
EPISODE SUMMARY
In this episode of No Priors, featuring Mark Zuckerberg and Alex Rives, Biohub: The Future of Biology is Open-Source with Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, and Alex Rives explores biohub’s open-source AI and biology platform to accelerate medicine Biohub’s core thesis is that the fastest path to medical breakthroughs is building shared, open tools and datasets that the entire scientific community can use, rather than trying to “cure diseases” as a single centralized organization.
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