#122 - USAID Grants, Jet Suit Races, and Pandemic Prevention Fellowships
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In the News
⚛️ Physicists at Princeton have captured an image of an electron crystal.
🦀 CAR-T cells are extremely effective at combatting cancer, and there are now new efforts to bring the costs of the therapy down precipitously.
🧬 Here’s a preprint from a startup out of Berkeley that is using Gen AI models to discover new CRISPR-editable genes that wouldn’t be rejected by the body.
🧫 Scientists have observed primary endosymbiosis in a group of algae cells, which is known to have only happened a handful of times in history.
Opportunities
Check out USAID’s DIV grant program and see if you or anyone you know may qualify. We love when governments prioritize research and innovation with a focus on rigorous testing and impact evaluation from the start. The first stage of the grant can give up to $200k, but the later stages give $1.5M and $15M if the pilots go well. You can apply without a prototype or a team or any other backing - all you need is an idea that might help the world
This is a senior role, but one we’re excited about! New_Public is a special company and it’s worth checking out. They “bring designers, technologists, futurists, and community-builders together to create online spaces that better serve society and help create bridges across current social fault lines.” They’re seeking a software engineer who is passionate about upending traditional social media sites as we know them.
UpTogether is a research organization focusing on the systemic causes of poverty and how they can be eliminated. They’re seeking a director of engineering and a research manager to join their team.
“In Summer 2024, the Brown University Pandemic Center is launching a new fellowship opportunity for early to mid-career professionals in Africa and the United States. The fellowship is aimed at training and networking the next generation of health emergency leaders to better prepare them to make decisions, as well as develop policies and programs to prevent and prepare for worst case scenarios.” We strongly recommend that anyone interest in reducing the risks of pandemics apply to this fellowship.
What We’re Watching
We only just now found out that jet suit races are a thing.
We have a fascination with semiconductors and computation speeds, and this new chip uses light instead of electricity to carry information, which could drastically accelerate the capacities of new computers.
Quotes We Love
“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
- George Bernard Shaw
That’s all for now! See you in your inbox in another 2 weeks! ❤️