- 10/5/2023
Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) discusses the new Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative Biomedical Research Center in Chicago.
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00:00 It is so wonderful to be here with you all in Chicago and to be joined by so many of
00:06 the city's incredible scientists and researchers and your very own Governor JB Pritzker.
00:13 Thank you for being here.
00:20 Mr. Governor, I saw a local headline that touted you as a geek for quantum computing.
00:26 So I don't know how many of your constituents have that as a top priority, but it is mine.
00:32 So I am so thrilled to be here and sharing space with you.
00:38 For science nerds like us, today is epic.
00:42 Not just because of the news that we're here to share today, but how today's news and the
00:49 work that we're doing here connects and builds upon the history of Illinois' involvement
00:56 in incredible contributions to science.
01:00 It was here in Chicago in 1942 that the scientists at the University of Chicago, yeah, University
01:07 of Chicago, started the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction.
01:13 In 1960, it was where programmers at the University of Illinois built PLATO, the first shared
01:18 computer-based education system, which eventually created the first email system and then the
01:24 first online community.
01:26 Our family says thank you.
01:32 And more recently here in Chicago, researchers at Northwestern have been making incredible
01:38 breakthroughs in research in ALS, helping us better understand what causes cells to
01:44 degenerate and then what therapies we can use to treat this incredibly elusive disease.
01:49 Like, incredible.
01:51 Incredible that we get to build upon that community here at the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.
01:57 And so more breakthroughs are going to be on the horizon, because today we're here to
02:02 celebrate the brand new research center where these three historic institutions come together
02:09 as the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago.
02:13 So this city, its individuals, its institutions have changed the way farmers reap, manufacturers
02:20 make, surgeons operate, how athletes compute, compete, oh, both, we will compute, and builders
02:28 build.
02:29 And the Chicago Biohub is going to change the way our world deals with disease.
02:36 Or to put it another way, it will help scientists do their part in ending disease as we know
02:42 it.
02:43 [ Applause ]
02:44 So over the last century, we've made incredible progress learning how to identify and treat
02:58 some diseases, often one by one, often by chance.
03:04 The work that we hope to contribute to over this next century, we believe that if we can
03:10 understand in precise detail how cells and organs work together to keep us healthy, we
03:16 can open many, many doors to new ways of seeing and actioning how we can cure, prevent, and
03:23 manage all disease.
03:24 But these breakthroughs will require us to break down laboratory walls.
03:29 And that's the basis of the Biohub.
03:33 When Mark and I founded CZI, we knew there were major gaps in scientific knowledge of
03:38 what actually causes us to get sick at the most basic level in our bodies.
03:43 Two things immediately became clear.
03:46 First, in order to actually make progress in filling those gaps in knowledge, in order
03:52 to help fill those gaps in knowledge, we would need to strengthen and increase the resolution
03:58 of our most basic understanding of cellular biology.
04:03 Mark always says, "How can you debug the code if you can't examine all the lines of code?"
04:09 So to understand the code that keeps our bodies healthy and the errors that cause disease,
04:14 we need new tools to observe, measure, and analyze biological processes throughout the
04:20 human body.
04:22 Second, it became clear that in order to fill those gaps, science needed to happen in a
04:28 different way.
04:30 As it stood, we have great scientists dotting the country and the world like pushpins on
04:35 a map.
04:37 But these efforts were often duplicative and even competitive.
04:42 So to achieve our goal, we needed the work to be collaborative.
04:46 So we dreamed up a high-tech space where we'd bring together scientists and other experts
04:51 across disciplines and institutions so we could investigate together the biggest mysteries
04:56 in biology and medicine.
04:59 And when you have great people and you work hard, dreams can come true.
05:05 So we launched our first Biohub in San Francisco in 2016, and we called it our biggest bet
05:12 in our work in science.
05:14 In a bit, you'll hear more from Steve, our head of science, about what we've achieved
05:18 over the past seven years.
05:20 In a nutshell, you know, don't live in suspense.
05:25 The work has paid off.
05:27 Our work has cracked open a whole new realm of scientific knowledge.
05:31 We're learning more than ever before about our cells, where many diseases first manifest
05:37 and how they spread across tissues and organs.
05:42 Our success in San Francisco has made it clear that we had to scale up the Biohub model and
05:49 to get more experts working together on cellular research.
05:53 So we launched the search, we launched the Biohub network search, looking for our second
05:59 Biohub.
06:00 We asked research teams to link up across institutions and submit proposals of what
06:05 they would do if their city had a Biohub.
06:08 And the response was immediate and immense.
06:12 We had 58 applications from 172 institutions from across the country.
06:17 There were brilliant, path-breaking proposals of how the world's top research minds would
06:22 study cells and diseases in new ways.
06:25 I wish we could stand here and read line by line the application from these three universities,
06:31 Northwestern, University of Chicago, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, because it is
06:36 riveting.
06:39 It reflected the expertise of the teams, but also the excellence that this city is known
06:45 for, the tenacity, the grit, and not incidentally the enthusiasm of the city's leadership.
06:54 One of my favorite things that I've learned about Chicago and the community here is that
06:59 Governor Pritzker showed up at the applicant interview day as the top cheerleader of the
07:06 team presenting their case for a Biohub.
07:11 And today is a great example of the staying power of this city's enthusiasm for cutting-edge
07:17 science.
07:18 And we're joined here today with Chicago Deputy Mayor Kenya Merritt, Alderman Walter Burnett,
07:24 Jr., and university leaders Robert Jones, Michael Schill, and Paul Avisatos, amongst
07:29 many others who are committed to making this work happen.
07:35 And one last thing, the part of the application that sealed the deal for me is a very important
07:42 person that set this application apart from all other applications, and it is a key person,
07:50 Dr. Shana Kelly.
07:53 I mean, I knew you were a phenomenal chemist, a biomedical engineer, a businesswoman, and
08:09 now the president of the Chicago Biohub.
08:13 And I just have to say, she works lightning fast, guys.
08:17 I got to see some of the science, the space, everything's moving.
08:22 There was, like, I don't know what happened.
08:24 Like the day we called her, she was like, "Actually, I already got started."
08:29 I'm certain that's what has had to happen.
08:33 So Shana and Steve are going to tell you more about what the work has been here today.
08:38 I got to see a sneak peek of what's happening.
08:41 You know, I would have to say that it's, months in, the work is exciting, thrilling, inspirational,
08:49 and so much more to come, and you're going to push the boundaries of science and engineering
08:54 and bring us all closer to ending disease.
08:58 And with that, I'd like to pass the mic to the governor.
09:02 Everyone please welcome Governor Pritzker.
09:07 Well, thank you so much, Priscilla, and good morning, everyone.
09:18 It's great to be here this morning.
09:20 What an honor it is to have you here, Priscilla, leading the charge.
09:25 And of course, we had that terrific tour just, you know, in the last half an hour, and in
09:30 a very short period of time, I wasn't able to fully geek out, I have to admit, but I
09:36 got an awful lot out of it.
09:38 We are really proud to have been selected from among dozens of applications from places
09:43 all across this nation.
09:46 And, you know, we are just confident enough here in Chicago that we are the best place
09:52 in the nation for CZ Biohub Network.
10:01 And that confidence was confirmed.
10:04 So thank you so much.
10:05 Thank you to all of you.
10:07 CZ Biohub Chicago has the capacity to revolutionize our understanding of the fundamental design
10:13 rules for human biology, laying the groundwork for trailblazing advances in our ability to
10:21 treat and prevent chronic inflammatory diseases from cancer to autoimmune and neurodegenerative
10:27 conditions.
10:30 That's a big deal.
10:31 And we are at the center of it.
10:33 This is quite literally life changing work.
10:38 And the state of Illinois is so proud to be your partner in this endeavor.
10:42 We've committed funding and support from across the state.
10:46 And that includes, importantly, the collaborative efforts of three of our state's most esteemed
10:51 research institutions under the leadership of U of I's Chancellor Robert Jones, Northwestern
10:58 University President Mike Schill, and University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos.
11:03 I want to share my sincere gratitude not only to them, but to their university teams who've
11:08 been so intimately involved in this.
11:12 Their work together leading up to this moment and going forward to establish and promote
11:17 this important CZ Biohub Chicago is going to set a precedent for great things ahead.
11:26 This achievement would also not have been possible without the support of the city of
11:30 Chicago and of World Business Chicago and really so many leaders in Chicago that have
11:35 offered to help and been engaged in this endeavor.
11:39 And of course, we're beaming with pride about Chicago Biohub's President Shana Kelly, who
11:45 brought her unprecedented expertise in cell research to Northwestern University back in
11:51 2021 and who will lead and shape the ways that this center unleashes scientific discovery
11:58 for years to come.
11:59 And we thank you so much, Shana.
12:08 So I wouldn't be me if I didn't brag a little bit about Illinois.
12:13 Doubling down on our legacy of innovation has been a key priority of mine, and it's
12:18 why I prioritized the new billion dollar innovation hub called Discovery Partners Institute with
12:24 the University of Illinois and why we became the first state to make a major investment
12:29 in quantum engineering in the build out of the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
12:35 We've also incentivized the building of wet lab space to increase access for new burgeoning
12:41 biotech companies.
12:43 There are just a few.
12:46 Those are just a few examples of the new paradigm that we are establishing here in Illinois.
12:52 We're focusing on long term investments that attract great talent, capital and cutting
12:57 edge science that will transform our state's economic landscape and will help us lead the
13:02 nation to greater prosperity.
13:05 We're investing in groundbreaking research that drives the future and we're educating
13:11 the workforce to help get us there.
13:15 We're making it easier and lowering costs for companies that want to come here and do
13:19 business in Illinois.
13:20 And we're doing it all while offering high quality of life for employees and their families
13:26 of every background and protecting their rights to live the life that they choose to live
13:33 for themselves.
13:41 So to anyone in the room who needs to hear this and anyone who's watching on video, I
13:47 want to say that whoever you are, Illinois is a welcoming place to you and I hope you
13:51 will join us.
13:53 Today our state's rising leadership on the national and global tech stage is clearer
14:03 than ever.
14:04 CZ Biohub Chicago is a beacon to so many others and a prime example of the growing nexus of
14:11 partnerships and innovation hubs and public and private universities and national laboratories,
14:19 national research programs that are fueling the next generation of economic vitality for
14:24 communities across our state.
14:26 And CZ Biohub is helping us lead a next generation of discovery for the world.
14:32 With that, it is my great pleasure to turn it over to a man who's driving revolutionary
14:38 change and the revolutionary nature of this cross institution, cross disciplinary research
14:45 center and that's the head of science for CZI and that's Steve Quake.
14:52 Thank you.
15:00 Thanks so much, Governor, for welcoming us to Chicago.
15:03 Priscilla didn't mention the other reason we knew Chicago would be the right place for
15:07 a Biohub.
15:08 It's that great Bulls dynasty of the 90s, which won six NBA championships, right?
15:13 MJ, Scotty, Phil, an amazing team that set the bar so high for achievement.
15:18 We figured making breakthroughs is just second nature to everyone here.
15:22 Shana, the bar is high.
15:26 I just want to say Chicago is already becoming a part of the Biohub's DNA.
15:30 We have a president from Northwestern.
15:32 We have a new board member from University of Chicago.
15:35 And I guess that leaves me to represent Urbana Champaign.
15:39 All right.
15:40 Here we go.
15:43 You guys are going to have to make all three university logos for me at some point, but
15:50 I'll tell you, I actually first visited UIUC when I was two years old.
15:55 My uncle was a civil engineering student.
15:57 I got to ride in the concrete canoe that he built as part of his design project and it
16:02 was a ton of fun.
16:03 I like to think that that sort of set me on a journey in science and engineering, which
16:07 is continuing to this day and it's great to welcome you all to the family.
16:12 I first became involved in Mark and Priscilla's philanthropy as the founding co-president
16:16 of the first Biohub in San Francisco.
16:18 My partner in that endeavor, Joe DeRisi, is now carrying on the leadership of that Biohub
16:22 and he's here today to celebrate.
16:31 Joe and I had a vision that we would partner with great universities in the Bay Area, Stanford,
16:35 UCSF, and Berkeley, in order to take on large scientific problems that universities wouldn't
16:40 do on their own.
16:41 I want to share a little bit about that work and give you a sense of the kinds of breakthroughs
16:44 that a Biohub team could make.
16:46 At the SF Biohub, we created the first whole organism cell atlases of fly, mouse, lemur,
16:53 and human.
16:54 These references provide molecular definitions of the majority of cell types in the body
16:58 and are essential companions to the genome that explain how all the parts of the genome
17:02 are used in different cell types.
17:04 This was fantastic team science.
17:06 It involved collaborators at all three universities and at the Biohub and the papers at the end
17:10 of the day had more than 150 authors on them.
17:13 Our group leaders at the Biohub also developed other fantastic resources which help us understand
17:17 the mysteries of the cell, including OpenCell, which is a map of the locations of more than
17:22 a thousand proteins within the cell, as well as their binding partners.
17:26 And our research in infectious disease has led to many discoveries about the epidemiology
17:30 of novel viruses, as well as the immune response to infection.
17:35 When we first announced the SF Biohub, I got calls from my academic colleagues all over
17:39 the country saying, "When can we get a Biohub for our city?"
17:43 My response was, "Hold on.
17:44 Let us just prove that it's going to work here in San Francisco and then maybe we'll
17:47 see if Mark and Priscilla would be interested in expanding the model."
17:51 And so we're here today to celebrate that, the growth from a single Biohub as a regional
17:54 research institute into an organization with national reach.
17:58 We did this through an open competition and Priscilla shared some of the details.
18:02 I'm so excited that Chicago won the competition.
18:04 And we love the scientific proposal.
18:06 We love the amazing faculty.
18:08 But there was another aspect that set the university apart, or the proposal apart, and
18:13 it was the commitment of the three university presidents.
18:16 And I'd like to just take a moment to acknowledge that and thank them for support.
18:18 It was clear that Presidents Schill and Alvisatos and Chancellor Jones had a strong commitment
18:23 to working together across institutions, mutual respect, and a great working relationship
18:28 already in place, and a willingness to stretch to create something amazing.
18:32 Their involvement in the competition was your secret weapon here.
18:35 Gentlemen, please stand.
18:36 Let's give it up.
18:37 (Applause.)
18:50 So now I'd like to just say a few words about CZI, which has sort of a three-pronged strategy
18:56 to reach our mission of cure, manage, prevent all human disease.
19:00 As you've seen, we create research institutes which do research.
19:03 We also fund scientific research.
19:05 And our grants program has enabled researchers in more than 30 countries to work on high-risk
19:09 projects and things that aren't ready for federal support yet.
19:14 The program has been remarkably successful.
19:17 And as sort of one example of that, the publications supported by our work are cited at a far higher
19:22 rate than those funded from conventional sources, and we're very proud to see that.
19:27 The third part is that we build open-source software to accelerate science.
19:31 And as an extension of this, you may have seen our recent announcement that CZI is now
19:35 building a GPU cluster to train the AI models, which will help us understand the rich data
19:42 sets coming out of our institutes.
19:43 When it's up and running, it's going to be one of the world's largest clusters for nonprofit
19:46 scientific research.
19:48 And we hope that the models we develop on this cluster will give us amazing new insight
19:52 into how cells work and what changes when you have mutations, take medicine, and how
19:56 all that affects your body.
19:59 The Chicago's Biohub work is going to be crucial to that effort and to advancing our goals
20:04 as an institution.
20:05 Shane and her team are going to develop technologies to instrument human tissues and study a major
20:10 driver of disease, inflammation, and I'll let her tell you about it right now.
20:14 Thank you.
20:15 [applause]
20:16 All right.
20:17 Well, thank you so much, Steve, Priscilla, San Francisco Biohub partners, and everyone
20:29 at CZI.
20:30 Couldn't have gotten this off the ground without all of you.
20:34 Thank you, Governor Pritzker, for your commitment to what we're building here and for really
20:39 making this day happen.
20:40 It all started with you.
20:43 Chicago Biohub is literally a dream come true.
20:47 It really is.
20:49 For a scientist like me, running a freestanding research institute, empowered to do high-risk,
20:56 high-reward research, it's just game-changing, and I am so excited.
21:03 This is just an incredible opportunity.
21:06 Priscilla and Steve talked about what we can achieve with this type of cross-institute,
21:13 multidisciplinary approach, and we will achieve really extraordinary things because we're
21:18 really breaking out of the mold of how research has been traditionally done.
21:22 We'll be able to do it very differently here.
21:26 And there's also a really important other outcome of the work that we do and how we'll
21:31 do it, and it's inspiring scientists across the country and around the world through the
21:36 science that we do and the way that we do it.
21:39 The San Francisco Biohub has motivated countless institutions to think bigger, and I am absolutely
21:45 confident that the Chicago Biohub will do the same.
21:49 As Steve mentioned and Priscilla here in Chicago, we are going to start with studying really
21:56 the basic factors that drive inflammation.
22:01 Inflammation is an important part of how the human body works.
22:05 We need it to stay healthy, but it can also get out of control.
22:10 It can become chronic.
22:11 It can make cells or tissues diseased.
22:15 Disease can lead to pain and major issues, and sometimes medicine cannot turn inflammation
22:23 around.
22:25 About half of human deaths every year can be attributed to inflammation, inflammation-related
22:33 diseases.
22:34 Heart disease, stroke, cancer, kidney disease, neurodegenerative diseases, these all start
22:40 with inflammation.
22:44 All of us here at the Chicago Biohub believe that we can better understand these diseases
22:49 and what gets them started, and that will help us to cure, prevent, and manage them.
22:57 We really don't know what causes inflammation to shift into overdrive.
23:01 We have to get at that if we want to prevent human disease.
23:07 We want to understand what happens in cells.
23:10 For example, if a patient with multiple sclerosis all of a sudden has a flare-up, why does that
23:15 happen?
23:16 What is driving it?
23:17 How does inflammation play a part?
23:20 Or when we see people infected with SARS-CoV-2, and then all of a sudden there's inflammation
23:25 in the heart or the lungs or the brain and driving things like long COVID, why does that
23:31 happen and how can we turn it around?
23:34 We're going to do a deep dive into the fundamentals of inflammation.
23:39 We're going to study how it starts, why it persists, why it gets worse.
23:43 We really want to learn how to turn it around, how to treat it, or how to prevent it entirely.
23:49 That requires completely new technology.
23:52 We need new ways to get at this.
23:57 What we need is a technology that will allow us to make precise measurements in three dimensions,
24:03 really watching cells talk to one another, watching molecules move around in tissues
24:08 and driving inflammation.
24:10 The technology that we need, it doesn't exist yet.
24:13 While I'm sure you know what comes next, this is what we're going to build.
24:18 This is what the Biohub is here to do.
24:21 In this very building, scientists and engineers as a part of our team are going to build miniaturized
24:28 sensors, sampling probes.
24:30 We're going to embed those into living tissue systems or bioengineered tissue.
24:36 This technology and this approach will allow us to watch the very early events in inflammation.
24:42 Again, at the molecular level, at the cellular level.
24:45 We can see when a cell starts to take a turn as a result of inflammation and become diseased
24:51 and really identify cells that drive out of control inflammation.
24:58 We think that the technologies that we develop, the applications will go far beyond inflammation
25:03 and can be applied to many other systems.
25:07 My family and I have been really enjoying getting to know Chicago over the past two
25:12 years.
25:13 We came for Northwestern and we fell in love with the city once we got here.
25:18 Chicago is just an extraordinary place to live and work.
25:24 [applause]
25:25 And even better, now for the last few months, I've been with an amazing team getting the
25:34 Biohub off the ground.
25:36 The team is everything here.
25:38 We are assembling a team, the best and brightest from Chicago.
25:41 We have an incredible talent pool in this city.
25:45 I wouldn't say it's been easy, but we've had just so many resources, so many amazing people
25:49 to look at bringing into the Biohub to help us with the important work that I mentioned.
25:55 And I can tell you without hesitation that folks in this city and at this Biohub, we're
26:00 all on a mission to put Chicago on the map in biomedicine.
26:06 We are so excited to get in the lab.
26:08 We actually are already in the lab, as Priscilla said.
26:11 As soon as I got any word that this was happening, it was just time to think about how to make
26:17 it happen.
26:18 And so we're just so excited about the work.
26:20 We're so excited about the approach, the opportunity, the support from CZI.
26:24 It's just, as I said, a real opportunity of a lifetime.
26:29 And we hope, you know, our aspirations are to create technologies and make discoveries
26:34 that can help millions of patients.
26:36 That's really what we're here to do.
26:38 We also want to learn how to train powerful AI algorithms to really power what we can
26:44 learn about biology.
26:46 And we also want to inspire others to take on even bolder science.
26:52 So I want to thank everyone who's contributed to what we've been able to do so far, and
26:58 especially our university partners, Northwestern, University of Chicago, University of Illinois,
27:03 Urbana-Champaign, and the CZ Biohub Network and CZI.
27:08 And I really thank them for putting their faith in me to help lead this forward.
27:13 I want to give a special thanks to Jeff Hubbell, Gene Robinson, Rasha Bashir, who are the advisory
27:21 committee to the Biohub and are really helping me drive it forward.
27:24 And I can't thank them enough.
27:33 And I want to recognize our awesome team of new hires at the Chicago Biohub and thank
27:39 them for joining me on this new adventure.
27:48 And Steve, I may not be able to jump as high as Michael Jordan, but I'm going to take us
27:54 the distance.
28:00 Okay, thank you everyone for the warm welcome that you've given us today here at the Chan
28:10 Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago.
28:14 Thank you all for coming.
28:15 We have a small gift for all of you.
28:21 First of its kind.
28:22 This will be in the archives for the future.
28:25 So what we're going to ask you to do is kind of all proceed out to the elevators, grab
28:31 a water bottle.
28:32 Again, we are so excited that you were here today.
28:36 We're going to make room for the media to kind of come in and move on to the next phase
28:39 of things.
28:40 And thank you so much and have a great rest of the day.
28:52 Happy to take any questions from members of the media.
29:00 There are a lot of things to ask though that you should, I hope, focus on.
29:04 Yeah.
29:05 So let me first say that we are in constant communication and I mean multiple times a
29:25 day between our offices and the mayor's office and his departments with regard to the challenge
29:33 of the asylum seekers coming in large numbers to the city and have been for really since
29:38 he took office.
29:40 We were only made aware that he had a plan to go to the border yesterday, I think when
29:45 maybe the public was made aware, maybe it was a few minutes before.
29:52 And we've been assisting in lots of different ways with personnel, with dollars and so on
29:58 to help the city along the way.
30:01 But we certainly have provided insights that our teams have gathered over the last 13 months
30:09 from visiting the border, from talking to the NGOs on the ground, because they really
30:14 are the ones who have the daily expertise and knowledge.
30:18 So we'll assist him in any way that he needs in his trip.
30:22 What did you all learn down there that was helpful to your administration that they might
30:27 be able to learn more?
30:28 Well, you know, it's important to develop relationships, one-on-one relationships with
30:32 the folks who are on the ground doing the work in Texas.
30:37 I'm not talking about the members of the Abbott administration or the politicians who are
30:43 making these decisions, these dehumanizing positions and decisions.
30:49 I'm talking about the folks who are actually doing the work of feeding clothing, providing
30:54 shelter for people on the ground, and who are acting in some ways as a hub, a transfer
31:03 hub, let's say, when people decide that they're going to get on a bus or when the governor
31:08 or mayor is encouraging them to get on a bus to somewhere.
31:13 So I think having the direct relationships, being able to talk.
31:17 We heard, for example, a couple of days ago, the reason that you know that there were multiple
31:22 buses coming more than ever before is because we talked to those NGOs and they were telling
31:29 us the bus companies are being hired to provide more buses on any given day and the likelihood
31:38 is you're going to see an uptick and so on.
31:40 So we get a lot of info in that regard.
31:42 And of course, we want to talk to them to make sure that they're not loading people
31:46 onto buses who have severe illnesses and other things.
31:49 They're doing their best, those nonprofits, but again, having a direct relationship and
31:54 being able to talk to them is important.
31:56 So that's why the mayor, I think that's a valuable trip probably.
31:59 Well, you're focusing on a wall, but this is really more a comprehensive discussion
32:13 about border security.
32:15 And he's been in favor from the very beginning and for a long time in his career of border
32:20 security, but also having significant immigration in this country.
32:24 You've seen that, you know, the projections that actually without immigration, that we
32:27 would have a declining population in the United States, which by the way, would also lead
32:33 to a declining economy in the United States.
32:35 So well, again, you're focusing on one aspect, but I, and which I understand, but I just
32:44 want you to understand also that it's not just a wall that provides border security.
32:49 There are lots of other aspects to it.
32:51 And so making sure that we're enhancing all of those while also working for comprehensive
32:56 immigration reform, because he's not doing this in isolation.
33:00 He's also telling Republicans that if you want to come to the table, now is the time
33:05 we're willing to do this.
33:06 If you're willing to do that.
33:07 I don't want to point fingers.
33:20 You know, there are lots of different kinds of NGOs.
33:22 Look at Chicago and how many different types and, and different focus areas.
33:26 And frankly, you know they each have a different attitude.
33:31 That's the same thing that happens among independent NGOs in Texas.
33:35 And you've seen that we get buses from, you know, from Laredo, we get buses from El Paso,
33:40 we get, you know, and so on.
33:42 And you can imagine that they're all operating in their areas somewhat independently.
33:48 So I wouldn't point any fingers.
33:50 I think that that many of them are just trying to manage what is a humanitarian crisis for
33:57 Texas, as it is when you send people to Chicago, where we have a limit as does every state
34:04 to the amount of housing and, and, and support that can be provided.
34:11 FYI, there are 50 states in the United States, 48 in the continental United States.
34:16 There are an awful lot of states that could manage to absorb and assist in this humanitarian
34:22 effort.
34:23 But as you can see, they're only sending those buses to blue states and democratically controlled
34:29 cities.
34:30 Yeah, I mean, again, this is a challenge I think the city has been facing since the
34:47 beginning.
34:48 You know, we don't do city planning at the state level.
34:51 This is, you know, a question best directed city.
34:55 Meanwhile, as they have developed plans, and as they've implemented them, we've been there
34:59 in support.
35:00 For example, we have DHS, Department of Human Services employees from the state working
35:05 at the shelters in the city of Chicago to alleviate some of the burden upon the city.
35:11 And that's just one aspect of the way that we're supporting them.
35:25 As you know, we balanced the budget for this year.
35:28 And it isn't as if we're coming in with, you know, enormous surpluses.
35:32 And we always have things that are, you know, an opportunity for us to be of assistance.
35:39 This is not something where we have hundreds of millions of dollars to support.
35:42 But remember, we've gone above and beyond.
35:45 We've taken some of the programs that have pre existed this crisis, and sort of adjusted
35:51 them to help with the migrant crisis.
35:55 Let me give you one example, our rental assistance program, which is very important for helping
36:00 people that just fall just under the ability to pay their rent.
36:05 We have provided some of that rental assistance money, which wasn't originally intended to
36:10 be about asylum seekers for this challenge.
36:14 Yes, oh, good.
36:15 Hi, I'm Elaine from SAC.
36:16 I have two questions.
36:17 One is, why does anyone require me to pay rent?
36:18 And secondly, you talked about how you hope that this is going to help with revitalizing
36:25 the biotech economy locally.
36:26 What are your responsibilities and concerns about the benefits of the biohub not being
36:27 distributed equally, whether it be employment or research opportunities, or the benefits
36:28 that come from the research not being distributed equally?
36:29 And then, I guess, I guess I'll just ask you, what are your thoughts on the biohub?
36:30 And then, I guess I'll just ask you, what are your thoughts on the biohub?
36:31 And then, I guess I'll just ask you, what are your thoughts on the biohub?
36:32 And then, I guess I'll just ask you, what are your thoughts on the biohub?
36:33 And then, I guess I'll just ask you, what are your thoughts on the biohub?
36:34 And then, I guess I'll just ask you, what are your thoughts on the biohub?
36:35 And then, I guess I'll just ask you, what are your thoughts on the biohub?
36:51 So I'm not sure.
36:52 Let's see, three questions, I think, in there.
36:54 Let me correct your language a little, if I may, or address it.
36:57 Anyway, I wouldn't call it a revitalized biotech community.
37:00 It's actually been a burgeoning biotech community here in Illinois.
37:05 So, and this is truly a catalyst for reaching a whole new level.
37:12 As you know, a lot of this happens in the research laboratories, which, you know, there's
37:18 certainly an effort in STEM education and in our universities to attract people of all
37:25 backgrounds into that field.
37:28 But I wouldn't say that in the research laboratory is the place where we're going to, you know,
37:33 see the equity change that we all want to see.
37:37 Always an effort to get there, though, to be clear.
37:40 The dollars that the state is putting in are infrastructure dollars.
37:45 So when you look around this space, part of the reason that this space is so capable of
37:52 helping with the research and the gathering of scientists is because of state infrastructure
37:59 dollars.
38:00 We're not engaged in the funding of the research itself, but rather in making it possible for
38:06 them to choose Chicago by diverting money that they would have had to spend on this
38:12 back into research and the lab and the hiring of great people.
38:17 I don't know if others want to react to any other aspect of this.
38:22 Yeah.
38:23 So the Biohub, you know, we're going to be doing technology development, highly innovative
38:28 research.
38:30 I'm the founder of four life sciences startups and have kind of worked through that pipeline
38:36 of discovery to commercialization.
38:39 And I can absolutely see those kinds of discoveries happening at the Biohub.
38:43 I have two companies that are incubating now in Chicago.
38:48 And this is an amazing place for startups.
38:50 And to get more startups, we need more great discoveries.
38:53 And those will be coming.
38:55 They'll continue to come from our great universities, but now we also have the Biohub to catalyze
39:00 the creation of new startups.
39:01 One more question and then we're done.
39:02 How many local jobs will this generate?
39:03 Will it largely be from universities that the scientists can come out of?
39:04 Will there be hiring locally for them?
39:05 Yeah.
39:06 So the Biohub is a physical research institute with its own staff.
39:17 So to get started, we're hiring about 50 FTEs, scientists and engineers, to get the research
39:23 programs kicked off and we'll take it from there.
39:26 And that's locally?
39:27 Locally, yes, in this building.
39:28 How do you prioritize what disease you're going to be looking at and is diabetes in
39:29 there?
39:36 Diabetes is in there.
39:37 There's an immune system link, certainly for diabetes.
39:42 We're really trying to be disease agnostic as we start, though.
39:46 We're looking at inflammation, which is a driver of many, many diseases.
39:50 But we're trying to look at those very early events that are key across a spectrum of diseases.
39:57 Thanks.
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