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posted by CoolHand on Thursday February 09 2017, @11:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the show-me-the-money dept.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is funding scientists:

The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub has selected its first cohort of investigators. The nonprofit research institute in San Francisco, California, part of Facebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan's plan to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases, announced today that 47 faculty at three nearby research universities will get no-strings-attached awards to delve into risky new directions.

Biohub is the first concrete piece of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative's foray into science, launched last September with a commitment of $3 billion over 10 years from Zuckerberg and Chan, a pediatrician. The institute brings together the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF); UC Berkeley; and Stanford University to focus initially on two projects, a cell atlas and infectious diseases. The launch of Biohub's investigator program means each scientist and engineer chosen will receive an average of up to $300,000 per year for 5 years for life sciences research.

All papers produced are required to be freely published online as preprints. Published papers may also be required to be open access.


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  • (Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Friday February 10 2017, @11:17AM

    by FakeBeldin (3360) on Friday February 10 2017, @11:17AM (#465454) Journal

    I think that clause is minor enough to fly under the "no strings attached" radar.

    I disagree, for two reasons.

    First: If you publicly state "no strings attached" and then in the next paragraph publicly state "but you have to jump through this hoop", then obviously you're attaching strings. Saying it's not so is (to coin a phrase) an alternative fact.

    Second: in most research areas, where you publish counts. A lot. Now if there are no top venues that are open access venue, you're forcing the involved researchers to publish in lower-ranked conferences and journals than possible. Congratulations! Your "minor clause" string is affecting the career of any PhD student and PostDoc put on this project.
    "Minor", my tush.

    Strings are strings. The reason no-strings-attached sounds good is because that means there's no hidden surprises whose consequences it's hard to oversee.

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