The Open Philanthropy Project recommended a grant of up to $17,500,000 over five years and an additional investment in Sherlock Biosciences to support the development of a diagnostic platform to quickly, easily, and inexpensively identify any human virus present in a patient sample. Development of this technology would represent a significant advance in viral diagnosis, and could both reduce threats from viral pandemics and also benefit health care broadly. Sherlock recently spun out of Harvard University’s Wyss Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
This falls within Open Philanthropy’s work on scientific research, and specifically within its interest in advancing science supporting biosecurity and pandemic preparedness.