Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awards $1.49 million to Stanford researchers

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has awarded $1.49 million to research projects involving Stanford Medicine scientists who will investigate emerging ideas about the role of inflammation in disease. The grants will be awarded over a two-year period.

CZI is a philanthropic organization established by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, MD, in 2015.

Following are short descriptions of the projects, their funding amounts and the names of their investigators (lead investigators are listed first):

Analyzing how inflammation affects the aging brain ($525,000) — Anne Brunet, PhD, professor of genetics; Ami Bhat, MD, PhD, assistant professor of genetics and of hematology; Chris Garcia, PhD, professor of structural biology and of molecular and cellular physiology. 

Imaging gut immune cells and microbes to understand health and disease ($300,000) — Lucy Erin O’Brien, PhD, assistant professor of molecular and cellular and biology; KC Huang, PhD, professor of bioengineering and of microbiology and immunology.

Studying vascular disease in black and Hispanic patients ($525,000) — Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, professor of cardiovascular medicine and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute; Elsie Gyang Ross, MD, assistant professor of vascular surgery and of biomedical informatics research; and Philip Tsao, PhD, professor of cardiovascular medicine.

Understanding how stress and social disparity affect preterm birth ($140,000) — Jingjing Li, PhD, assistant professor of neurology (UCSF); Gary Shaw, DrPH, professor of pediatrics; and David K. Stevenson, MD, professor of pediatrics.