The Balvi Filantropic Fund, led by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, has made a groundbreaking donation of $15 million in USDC to the University of California San Diego. The donation is aimed at funding research into airborne pathogens, and is reportedly one of the largest donations ever made to an American university.
The money will be used to establish a new research unit called the Meta-Institute for Airborne Disease in a Changing Climate, or simply The Airborne Institute. The institute will focus on open-source research on aerosols, and will be dedicated to understanding the production, survival, and transport of airborne microbes in a changing climate worldwide.
Atmospheric chemist and professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UC San Diego, Kimberly Prather, expressed her gratitude for the donation, saying, “Thank you Vitalik Buterin and Balvi for this opportunity to better understand the production, survival, and transport of airborne microbes in a changing climate worldwide.”
The donation is a significant step forward in the fight against airborne pathogens, which have become an increasingly pressing concern in recent years. With the establishment of The Airborne Institute, researchers will be able to collaborate on open-source research and share their findings with the wider scientific community.
“We are so excited for this new adventure,” said Prather. “Our goal is to connect our research with the global community and make a real difference in the fight against airborne pathogens.”
