A new foundation from the estate of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has launched with a set of four research grant recipients and plans to give $500 million over the next four years to support bioscience, environmental science and AI development.
Based in Seattle, the Fund for Science and Technology (FFST) is kicking off with grants to Seattle Children’s Hospital to support phase 1 cellular immunotherapy trials and to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for studies of the immune system’s role in cancer and the development of new cell therapies, according to an Aug. 27 announcement.
The dollar amount of these first grants was not disclosed. The other inaugural funding recipients are the human sample biorepository at Benaroya Research Institute and the College of the Environment at the University of Washington, both fellow Seattleites.
“Our mission is to enable accelerated discovery and catalyze progress through transformational science and technology,” said Lynda Stuart, M.D., Ph.D., FFST’s president and CEO. “We need more solutions for some of the most defining challenges of our time, which is why the foundation is focused on bioscience, a range of environmental issues and the role AI can play to benefit people and the planet. These were three priority areas for Paul Allen, and our early grantees are at the forefront of that work.”
FFST was formed in 2022, with Stuart taking the helm this past March. An experienced scientist and physician, Stuart joined FFST after leaving her perch as executive director of the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington, the academic home of recent Nobel Laureate David Baker, Ph.D.
Stuart previously spent more than eight years at another Microsoft-related philanthropic effort, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, rising to the role of deputy director.
The FFST’s ultimate goal is to help Earth and humanity by making “big, long-term bets” on projects tackling complex problems within the foundation's focus areas, according to the release. The nonprofit plans to increase its grant-making over time and expand beyond Seattle’s borders into a national and global organization.
FFST's funding pledge comes as the federal government guts research grants, with the Supreme Court recently allowing the Trump administration to slash $783 million in National Institutes of Health grants.