Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Announces New Funding Opportunity to Bring More Engineering Expertise to Biomedical Imaging

Today, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) invites engineers, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and biologists with expertise in imaging technology to apply for CZI’s new Imaging Scientists funding opportunity. These five-year grants will support Imaging Scientists at imaging centers worldwide, where they will interface between biology, microscopy hardware, and imaging software to help advance the field of imaging.

Imaging of protein, cells, and tissues is critical to understanding health and disease. Advancing microscopy tools and expanding access to these tools will drive breakthroughs in curing, preventing, or managing disease. Imaging scientists play a critical role in developing and sharing advanced imaging technologies — which are central to both biomedical research and clinical practice. Yet progress in the imaging field has been slowed by a lack of investment in imaging scientists and imaging technology development, as well as limited dissemination of advanced microscopy methods.

CZI’s Imaging Scientists program seeks to address these issues and advance the field of imaging by increasing collaboration between biologists and technology experts and improving the tools that scientists use for imaging. CZI previously funded 17 imaging scientists in the United States.

“We started CZI’s Imaging Scientists program by supporting light microscopy in the U.S. — with this new funding opportunity, we want to expand to support experts in multiple imaging modalities, both nationally and internationally,” said CZI Head of Science Cori Bargmann.

Imaging scientists enable critical biomedical research through their work at imaging core facilities — centralized hubs that provide experimental biologists with access to the latest imaging software and hardware. Imaging Scientists might be engineers, physicists, mathematicians, computer scientists, or biologists who have focused on technology development in either light or electron microscopy, medical imaging, or data analysis fields.

A successful imaging program will employ an Imaging Scientist who works collaboratively with experimental biologists on projects at the imaging core; participates in courses that disseminate advanced microscopy methods and analysis; trains students and postdocs in imaging technology; participates in a network of CZI Imaging Scientists to identify needs and drive advances in the imaging field; and attends twice-yearly CZI scientific workshops and meetings in imaging and adjacent biomedical areas.

Applications can request funding up to $250,000 total costs per year. The award period is three years plus an additional two years if the imaging program passes a review at year three. Applications must be submitted by an imaging scientist at non-profit universities or research institutes across the world.

For more information and application instructions, please visit CZI’s online grants management portal. Applications must be submitted by July 30, 2020 at 5 p.m. Pacific Time. For administrative and programmatic inquiries, technical assistance, or other questions pertaining to this RFA, please contact sciencegrants@chanzuckerberg.com.

Read about the work of CZI’s Imaging Scientist grantees.

About the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Founded by Dr. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg in 2015, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is a new kind of philanthropy that’s leveraging technology to help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges — from eradicating disease, to improving education, to reforming the criminal justice system. Across three core Initiative focus areas of Science, Education, and Justice & Opportunity, we’re pairing engineering with grant-making, impact investing, and policy and advocacy work to help build an inclusive, just and healthy future for everyone. For more information, please visit chanzuckerberg.com.