Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen pledges $100 million for cutting-edge life sciences research

On Wednesday, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who also owns the Seattle Seahawks, promised $100 million funding for cutting-edge life sciences study. As per a news release from the Allen Institute, the gift has signified his initial pledge in the direction of a decade-long plan for The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a latest Seattle-based organization launched by him on Wednesday.

The initial projects of the organization include $20 million funding for eight years of research endeavors at Stanford University and Tufts University, and under the ‘research partnership’, universities will contribute $10 million each.

Markus Covert, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford, will head the university team for developing computer models to shed light on cell interactions. At Tufts, biology professor Michael Levin will lead a team reaching on algorithms and computations carried out by cell networks.

Besides, the Allen Frontiers Group has made an announcement of grants between $1 million to $1.5 million for four scientists performing path-breaking studies in their respective fields. These scientists include Jennifer Doudna, who is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She has played a role in coming up with pioneer CRISPR gene-editing technology. The work she does will look at the probable fresh ways of editing genes by targeting RNA.

In a statement, Allen said, “To make the kind of transformational advances we seek and thus shape a better future, we must invest in scientists willing to pursue what some might consider out-of-the-box approaches at the very edges of knowledge”.

Allen added that when there is no risk, there is hardly any significant reward, and without attempting really novel approaches they could never reach the answers they have been seeking.