Opportunity profile: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative starts its trek

Moonshot-friendly funder’s neurodegenerative disease programme looks to go where no funder has gone before

Top tips

• The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is open to applicants anywhere in the world, but grantees so far have been predominantly US-based.
• Applicants from outside neurodegenerative disease research are strongly encouraged.
• The basic science of any application must be solid, but the funder also wants to see an original scientific vision.
• The funder warmly welcomes high-risk applications that may not be accepted elsewhere.

Back in 2015, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, paediatrician Priscilla Chan, pledged to give away 99 per cent of their wealth, launching the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.