NEW YORK – The UK government's Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said on Monday that it has secured £32 million ($38.9 million) through private and philanthropic partnership funding to scale up the UK Biobank database and further support biomedical research.
The funding included over £16 million donated by former Google CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt and Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel and founder of Griffin Catalyst, as part of the new consortium of philanthropic and industry partners to donate to the UK Biobank over a five-year period.
Their contribution is entirely philanthropic and does not entail any control over UK Biobank or its operations, the UK government said. In addition, these private donations will be matched by the UK government, which will provide up to £25 million in total funding for the UK Biobank, provided that an equal amount of donations are also secured.
The ultimate aim, according to the UK government, is to achieve at least £50 million in fundraising.
The money raised will enable the UK Biobank to continue growing and to conduct research to gain more insights into common human diseases, the UK government said. This includes using AI to analyze and draw new insights from the biobank's data, such as in the analysis of cancer samples.