CZI Awards $16 Million for Foundational Open Source Software Tools Essential to Biomedicine

Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) announced $11.1 million in funding for open source software projects that are critical to biomedicine, and $4.9 million to initiatives advancing the participation, retention, and leadership progression of contributors from groups that are systemically underrepresented in scientific open source.

Biomedical research increasingly relies on computational methods, and open source software has become foundational to the majority of today’s research in the field. Yet even the most widely-used research software often lacks dedicated funding for continuous development.

As part of the fourth cycle of the Essential Open Source Software for Science (EOSS) program, CZI is awarding 35 new grants to support maintenance, growth, development, and community engagement for tools that are widely used in biomedical imaging, genomics, cell biology, bioinformatics, and other fields. View the list of grantees. 

In addition, CZI is also awarding $4.9 million to 14 proposals led by previously funded EOSS grantees for initiatives dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion in their contributor communities. Read more in Medium and learn more about these projects.

These awards bring CZI’s total commitment to funding scientific open source through the EOSS program to over $28 million. View the full list of all EOSS grantees. 

“Open source software for biomedical research is a critical component of an open, reproducible, and verifiable scientific ecosystem, and scientists across the globe rely on open source software to carry out their research,” said CZI Head of Science Cori Bargmann. “We’re proud to expand our cohort of grantees, and also help the open source projects we support advance diversity and inclusion in their communities.”

CZI supports several areas of basic science and technology with the goal of making it possible to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of this century. In service of this mission, the Open Science program at CZI aims to accelerate the pace, robustness, and reproducibility of science — investing in projects and organizations focused on open science while also serving the broader scientific community.

Learn more about CZI’s Open Science program.

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About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was founded in 2015 to help solve some of society’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease and improving education, to addressing the needs of our local communities. Our mission is to build a more inclusive, just, and healthy future for everyone. For more information, please visit chanzuckerberg.com.