Carbondale Reporter

In a March 7 Facebook post, Rep. David Friess announced that three Illinois Universities would be part of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago project.

“The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has been chosen to lead the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago – a new biomedical hub – along with the University of Chicago and Northwestern University,” he posted.

The Illinois News Bureau wrote a location for the hub has yet to be determined.

On March 2, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative announced the location of a second Biohub Network, this one in Chicago. Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago is expected "to develop new technologies for studying and measuring human biology that will use embedded sensors and probes to collect biological signals from human tissues with unprecedented resolution," according to the IllinoisNews Bureau.

Shana O. Kelley of Northwestern University will lead CZ Biohub Chicago, which will initially focus on using a unique, engineering-driven approach to study human biology. By embedding thousands of sensors and sampling probes in tissues, scientists will be able to monitor molecular and cellular signals with unprecedented resolution and reveal how disruptions in these processes lead to inflammation and disease. This group will focus on learning about inflammation-based issues in the body and creating new approaches to treat inflammation-caused medical conditions.

The Illinois News Bureau added Joon Kong, the Robert W. Schafer Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and leader of the Multicellular Engineered Living Systems Research Theme at the Institute for Genomic Biology; and Martha Gillette, the Alumni Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology, the director of the Neuroscience Program and an MCELS member, will lead this effort.

“Our role in the CZ Biohub Chicago is further evidence that our university is working at the leading edge of advancing human health,” University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Robert J. Jones said. “When we unite our expertise with the collective strengths of our world-class research university partners, the horizon for innovation in health expands exponentially. The partnership between our three institutions is strong and growing, and that translates directly and rapidly into impact for the people of Illinois.”

According to its website, "The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Network is a group of nonprofit research institutes that bring together physicians, scientists, and engineers with the goal of pursuing grand scientific challenges on a 10- to 15-year time horizon."

Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg are investing $250 million into this project, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The State of Illinois will also contribute $25 million. “The Chicago biohub is going to build miniaturized sensors to understand how cells work together and interact within tissues,” Zuckerberg said in a video announcing the investment. “We’re then going to apply these technologies to measure and understand the inflammation in living human tissues because that plays a big part in our overall health. About 50% of all deaths can be attributed to inflammation-related diseases, including cancer, heart disease and dementia, so making progress here is pretty critical.”

According to is website, the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago will look at how technology can look at treating diseases at the molecular-level.

“This institute will embark on science to embed miniaturized sensors into tissues that will allow us to understand how healthy and diseased tissues function in unprecedented detail,” Priscilla Chan said, according to a story in Fierce Biotech. Chan said that improving that understanding will give researchers a better idea of “what goes wrong in disease and how to fix it. This might feel like science fiction today, but we think it’s realistic to achieve huge progress in the next 10 years,” added Chan, who is co-founder and co-CEO of CZI alongside her husband, Meta CEO Zuckerberg.