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The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub is a non-profit medical research organization that was launched by Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan. On Wednesday, they had distributed $50 million to enable doctors to cure, prevent or manage all diseases. They have selected the first batch of applicants to receive funding for research on deadly diseases.

The first batch includes 47 researchers from Berkley, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Stanford. A mix of scientists, technologists and engineers were selected from the 700 applicants. They will receive $1.5 million of unrestricted funding for five years as part of the Biohub's Investigator Program.

The Biohub initiative aims to bring researchers together from three Bay Area universities to collaborate on medical research projects. It is part of a bigger initiative that was laid out by Chan and Zuckerberg in September where they pledge to invest $3 billion over the next 10 years to find a cure, prevent and manage all diseases.

According to The Sun, Dr. Rikky Muller, CEO of Cortera is one of the researchers who will receive funding to develop clinically viable and minimally invasive neural interfaces designed for people suffering severe disabilities. The research hopes that recording brain activity will allow paralyzed people to control prosthetic limbs.

"Muller is developing new wireless microsystems that directly interface with the brain for long-term, minimally-invasive neurological recording, "according to the Chan Zuckerber Biohub statement. Muller aims "to engineer novel implants that can simultaneously sense and alter physiological responses to enable drug delivery and the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders."

CNBC reported the group of researchers includes 22 junior investigators, 25 senior investigators, 21 women and 26 men. Their projects have the advantage of the latest technologies that would assist them in developing cures for infectious diseases, understand abnormal neural activity and improve patient care. The funding will give these researchers the freedom to pursue the risks from their ideas.