HHMI Today: 2000-Present

Forty-eight scientists from 31 institutions are selected in a national competition to become HHMI investigators.

Eric R. Kandel, an HHMI investigator at Columbia University, shares the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Arvid Carlsson of the University of Goteborg and Paul Greengard of The Rockefeller University.

A team of 30 researchers, which includes HHMI investigator Patrick O. Brown and former HHMI-NIH research scholar Ash Alizadeh, both at Stanford University School of Medicine, report gene expression profiling using DNA microarray technology shows that a commonly diagnosed lymphoma is actually two distinct diseases.

An international team of researchers that includes HHMI investigator Dan R. Littman at New York University Medical Center discovers that HIV commandeers immature immune cells in the first step of its assault.

Led by HHMI vice president for biomedical research Gerald M. Rubin at the University of California, Berkeley, the Drosophila Genome Project Group, in collaboration with researchers at the Celera Genomics Corporation, unveil the complete genetic sequence for Drosophila, commonly known as the fruit fly.

HHMI investigator Frederick W. Alt and colleagues at the Children's Hospital in Boston identify a protein that protects against DNA damage.

HHMI awards $92 million in grants to strengthen research programs at medical schools, $50 million for undergraduate science education, and millions more for fellowships, precollege education, and international efforts to overcome infectious and parasitic diseases.

Peter J. Bruns is elected vice president for grants and special programs.

Researchers in the laboratory of HHMI investigator S. Lawrence Zipursky at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues at the University of Michigan identify a new axon guidance receptor that can exist in more than 38,000 different forms.

HHMI investigator Norbert Perrimon and colleagues at Harvard Medical School report that three fruit fly genes are part of the machinery that governs the orderly arrangement and growth of epithelial cells.

Researchers led by Thomas A. Steitz, an HHMI investigator at Yale University, obtain high-resolution images of the ribosome and show that it can act as a ribozyme.

HHMI investigator Susan L. Lindquist and colleagues at the University of Chicago propose a new model describing how yeast prions assemble.

Researchers led by HHMI investigators Philip A. Beachy at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Matthew P. Scott at Stanford University School of Medicine show that the plant compound cyclopamine blocks the action of mutated genes that produce basal cell skin carcinomas.

HHMI investigator Stuart L. Schreiber and colleagues at Harvard University report that protein microarrays can measure the function of thousands of proteins simultaneously.

HHMI investigator John Kuriyan and colleagues at The Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook use X-ray crystallography to pinpoint how the drug STI-571 works against chronic myelogenous leukemia.

HHMI announces a 10-year, $500 million plan for a biomedical science center that will develop advanced technology for biomedical researchers and provide a collaborative setting for a group of interdisciplinary scientists from around the world to work on cutting-edge, long-range research projects.

In the first move of its kind, the Institute announces a national competition for the appointment of physician-scientists as HHMI investigators.

A research team that includes HHMI investigator Louis J. Ptacek at the University of Utah finds a gene that causes a rare sleep disorder.

HHMI investigator Peter S. Kim and his colleagues at MIT's Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research synthesize a protein that jams the "grappling hook" that HIV uses to attach to target cells.

A computational method developed by HHMI investigator David A. Baker at the University of Washington and his colleagues predicts the three-dimensional structure of proteins with surprising accuracy.

New research by Jonathan S. Weissman, an HHMI investigator at the University of California, San Francisco, suggests that knowledge of the shape of a prion is critical to understanding which hosts it can infect.

HHMI hosts the first scientific symposium of the International Research Scholars since the inception of the program in 1991.

A research team led by HHMI investigator Richard Axel at Columbia University identifies a large family of fruit fly genes that could play a key role in understanding taste and odor perception.

HHMI investigator Jack W. Szostak and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital subject proteins derived from 400 trillion random DNA sequences to natural selection in the test tube.

The Institute awards $12 million for informal science education.

HHMI investigator Joseph S. Takahashi and colleagues at Northwestern University create a new tool for probing how the brain governs circadian rhythms.

Working independently, two HHMI research teams - Linda B. Buck and colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Robert F. Margolskee and colleagues at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine at New York University - find a candidate sweet taste receptor.

HHMI investigator Tyler Jacks of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his colleagues develop a cancer-prone strain of mice that develops lung cancer in much the same way that humans do.

HHMI investigator Carlos Bustamante and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, devise a technique to measure the mechanical force needed to unfold and refold several types of RNA molecules.

A research team led by HHMI investigator Roderick MacKinnon at The Rockefeller University discovers how potassium channels can slam shut, settling the question of how potassium channels manage to close milliseconds after opening and offering new insights into the design of drugs that more precisely control the channels.

HHMI investigator Susumu Tonegawa and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Vollum Institute identify an important molecular step in preserving long-term memories.

A research team led by HHMI investigators Stanley J. Korsmeyer and Todd R. Golub, both at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School, report DNA microarray studies that make strong case for existence of new type of leukemia.

HHMI awards $80 million in four-year grants to 44 universities across the U.S. in support of innovative new programs for undergraduate education.

H. Robert Horvitz, an HHMI investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of three scientists awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death. Horvitz shares the award with Sydney Brenner of The Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and John Sulston of the Sanger Centre in Cambridge, England.

An international research team, which includes HHMI investigator George M. Shaw and senior author Beatrice H. Hahn at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, identifies a wild chimpanzee infected with simian immunodeficiency virus, strengthening the case that cross-species transmission brought about the HIV pandemic.

An international team of researchers led by HHMI investigator Bert Vogelstein at The Johns Hopkins University develops a technique that detects small amounts of a colon cancer-triggering gene in stool samples.

The Institute announces the appointment of its first 20 HHMI Professors. Each is a leading researcher who will receive $1 million over the next four years to bring the creativity they have shown in the lab to the undergraduate classroom.

HHMI investigator D. Gary Gilliland at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital is one of the senior authors of an article reporting the identification of two new drugs that inhibit a specific enzyme that drives development of the deadliest form of AML.

Led by Thomas M. Jessell, an HHMI investigator at Columbia University College of Physicians and Scientists, researchers use a precise mix of chemical signals to coax embryonic mouse stem cells to differentiate into functioning motor neurons.

Researchers led by HHMI investigators Charles L. Sawyers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and John Kuriyan at the University of California, Berkeley, identify 15 gene mutations that cause patients with chronic myeloid leukemia to develop resistance to Gleevec.

HHMI awards nearly $2 million to the European Molecular Biology Organization to help launch promising scientific careers in Eastern Europe. Two scientists from Poland, two from Hungary, and one from the Czech Republic receive the initial awards.

HHMI officially breaks ground for the Janelia Farm Research Campus to be built on a 281-acre parcel that lies along the Potomac River near Leesburg, Virginia. When completed in 2006, the complex will house a permanent research staff of between 200 and 300 scientists from various disciplines carrying out cutting-edge research and developing new tools for biological discovery.

Roderick MacKinnon, an HHMI investigator at The Rockefeller University, shares the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Peter Agre of the Johns Hopkins University for discoveries related to channels in cell membranes.

HHMI investigator King-Wai Yau at Johns Hopkins University and his colleagues from Imperial College in London and Brown University make headway in understanding a second light-sensing pathway in mammals.

HHMI researchers, led by HHMI investigator Joan Massague at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, identify a "metastatic toolbox" of genes that spur the spread of breast cancer.

The Trustees of HHMI elect Gerald M. Rubin as vice president and director of the Janelia Farm Research Campus.

HHMI investigator David C. Page at MIT's Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, in collaboration with a team of 40 researchers, publishes the DNA sequence of the Y chromosome.

The Institute names 49 students from colleges and universities worldwide as winners of new predoctoral fellowships.

Researchers led by Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator Kevin Campbell at the University of Iowa identify a novel target for drugs to treat cardiovascular disease.

HHMI investigators Tom A. Rapoport and Stephen C. Harrison, both at Harvard Medical School, have determined the first high-resolution structure of a type of channel that transports proteins across and integrates proteins into membranes. According to the researchers, the structure of the channel is providing new insight into protein transport.

Nineteen biomedical research centers are awarded nearly $10 million in new grants from HHMI to share science with their communities.

HHMI publishes Making the Right Moves, A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty.

Researchers in the laboratory of HHMI investigator Douglas A. Melton at Harvard University announce that they have derived 17 new human embryonic stem-cell lines.

The Institute steps up its commitment to fostering international biomedical research with two new competitions for more than $30 million in research grants to biomedical scientists outside the United States.

The Institute announces a national competition for as many as 50 new scientists in the field of biomedical research. Nearly 200 universities, medical schools, and research institutes are invited to nominate their best scientists for the competition.

HHMI awards $49.7 million in grants to 42 baccalaureate and master's degree institutions in 17 states and Puerto Rico. The four-year grants, ranging from $500,000 to $1.6 million, support a variety of programs to improve undergraduate science.

HHMI awards $98,000 in scholarships to 14 students graduating this year from Loudoun County, Virginia, public high schools. The students, who have demonstrated academic excellence and interest in science, will use the awards to defray the costs of tuition, books, or other expenses at colleges they will attend in the fall.

A relatively new drug, Gleevec (imatinib), virtually halts the progress of chronic myeloid leukemia, but some patients develop resistance to it. HHMI investigator Charles L. Sawyers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues report the first description of a new compound, BMS-354825, which successfully sidesteps Gleevec resistance.

Former HHMI Trustee Helen K. Copley, a leading business executive and philanthropist, dies at age 81.

By mimicking a molecular switch that triggers cell death, researchers led by Xiaodong Wang, an HHMI investigator at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and his colleagues kill cells grown in the laboratory from one of the most resilient and aggressive cancers—a virulent brain cancer known as glioblastoma. The new approach to tricking the cell-death machinery could be applied to a wide range of cancers where this pathway, known as apoptosis, has been inactivated.

Isolating stem cells from the skin of mice, researchers show that the cells have the power to self-renew and differentiate into skin and functioning hair follicles when grafted onto mice. The findings, published by HHMI investigator Elaine Fuchs and colleagues at The Rockefeller University, mean that the human equivalent of these stem cells—which scientists are also trying to isolate—could ultimately be used to regenerate skin and hair.

HHMI and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announce a partnership to support graduate training programs that integrate the biomedical sciences with the physical sciences and engineering. HHMI will award up to 10 three-year grants of as much as $1 million each to support the development and early phases of the interdisciplinary programs.

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute announces that the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Richard Axel, an HHMI investigator at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Linda Buck, an HHMI investigator at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The scientists are honored for their discoveries that clarify how the olfactory system works.

Richard P. Lifton and Gerald I. Shulman, both HHMI investigators at Yale University School of Medicine, and their colleagues find that a single change in a person's DNA can contribute to a range of life-shortening risk factors, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and other metabolic disorders.

The first accurate mouse model of an aggressive childhood muscle cancer, alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, improves researchers' understanding of the cause of the disease and could accelerate the identification of new chemotherapeutics to treat the disorder. The model was developed by HHMI investigator Mario R. Capecchi at the University of Utah and colleagues.

HHMI investigator Roger Y. Tsien at the University of California, San Diego, offers science a dazzling new palette of fluorescent proteins that researchers can use to tag cells and observe a range of cellular processes. By splicing the genes for the fluorescent proteins into specific genes in the cell, researchers can detect when those genes are switched on to produce proteins.

Genes that control the size and complexity of the brain have undergone much more rapid evolution in humans than in non-human primates or other mammals, according to a new study by HHMI investigator Bruce Lahn at the University of Chicago and colleagues.

Certain rare gene mutations can contribute significantly to low levels of a beneficial form of cholesterol in the blood, researchers find. Low levels of this cholesterol, known as high-density lipoprotein (HDL), are a major risk factor for heart disease. The research leader is Helen H. Hobbs, an HHMI investigator at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

Researchers identify a new inherited syndrome that can cause the aorta to rupture earlier than other aortic aneurysm syndromes, such as Marfan syndrome. They find that the newly identified syndrome is relatively common, but can be corrected with surgery if it is diagnosed early. The research is directed by HHMI investigator Harry C. Dietz at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

HHMI announces the selection of 43 of the nation's most promising biomedical scientists as new HHMI investigators. The 32 men and 11 women are drawn from 31 institutions nationwide, representing traditional biomedical research disciplines, as well as engineering, physics, chemistry, and computer science.

In a stunning example of evolution at work, scientists find that changes in a single gene can produce major changes in the skeletal armor of fish living in the wild. The surprising results, from research led by HHMI investigator David M. Kingsley at the Stanford University School of Medicine, bring new data to long-standing debates about how evolution occurs in natural habitats.

Kurt L. Schmoke, Dean of the Howard University School of Law, is elected a Trustee of the Institute. Schmoke is an attorney who has dedicated much of his life to public service at all levels of government, including three terms as mayor of Baltimore.

HHMI invited more than 200 research universities to compete for $86.4 million in new grants to strengthen undergraduate science education. HHMI also is seeking programs that broaden access to science for women, underrepresented minorities, and non-science majors. The awardees will be announced in late spring, 2006.

The HHMI Trustees elect Joseph D. Collins as the Institute's first vice president for information technology.

Richard G. Darman, a financial executive with a distinguished career in public service, is elected a Trustee of the Institute. Darman is a partner of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity firm, and chairman of the board of AES Corp., an international power company.

HHMI announces the recipients of its first Gilliam Fellowships. Created by HHMI to honor the legacy of the late James H. Gilliam Jr., a charter Trustee of the Institute who spent a lifetime fostering diversity and opportunity in education and science, the fellowships provide support for Ph.D. studies in the life sciences to disadvantaged students, including underrepresented minorities.

HHMI investigator David Eisenberg at the University of California, Los Angeles and colleagues provide the first detailed look at the core structure of the abnormal protein filaments found in at least 20 devastating diseases, ranging from Alzheimer's to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, the human version of "mad cow" disease.

In discoveries that may open a new chapter in understanding and diagnosing cancer, HHMI researchers and their colleagues establish that tiny microRNAs provide a novel genetic route to the initiation of some forms of cancer.

To determine the impact of genetic alterations associated with human melanoma, Yakov Chudnovsky, an HHMI predoctoral fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine, and colleagues generate human skin tissue containing cells selectively engineered to express specific mutations found in melanoma. The findings offer clues to the oncogenic potency of several genes implicated in the development of melanoma.

Researchers find that the most common form of lung cancer may begin in a group of newly isolated lung stem cells. Working in a mouse model, the researchers isolate a novel type of lung cell that can divide into fresh copies of itself and into the two more specialized kinds of cells deep in the lung. The study was led by Tyler Jacks, an HHMI investigator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

HHMI announces the selection of seven dynamic researchers to be the first group leaders at its Janelia Farm Research Campus. As HHMI's first freestanding campus, Janelia Farm will provide a setting in which small research groups can explore fundamental biomedical questions in a highly collaborative, interdisciplinary culture. The $500 million campus will open in 2006.

HHMI awards $17.5 million to 42 outstanding scientists in 20 countries to tackle the mysteries of the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying infectious and parasitic disease such as tuberculosis, malaria, hemorrhagic fevers, and anthrax.

Researchers identify a telltale set of genes that causes breast cancer to spread and grow in the lungs, where cancer cells often flourish with lethal consequences. The researchers, led by HHMI investigator Joan Massagué at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, hope that their research will give clinicians a new set of molecular tools to test tumor biopsies for the activity of these specific genes and, in turn, should help guide treatment by permitting the early diagnosis of breast cancers that will ultimately metastasize to the lung.

HHMI announces that its Janelia Farm Research Campus has established partnerships with the University of Cambridge and the University of Chicago to launch an interdisciplinary graduate program.

New computer algorithms developed by HHMI investigator David Baker at the University of Washington are shown to predict the detailed structure of small proteins nearly as well as experimental methods, at least some of the time. According to Baker, the research shows that scientists are getting better at predicting a protein's structure from its amino acid sequence.

With grants of $1 million through HHMI's Med into Grad initiative, 10 universities will initiate fundamental changes in the way Ph.D. scientists are trained. They will use the three-year grants to develop innovative graduate education programs designed to produce a cadre of scientists with the knowledge and skills to conduct research at the interface between the biomedical, physical, and computational sciences.

HHMI and the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) singled out six outstanding scientists in the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Hungary to receive grants to help the scientists establish their first independent laboratories.

Sir Paul Nurse, president of The Rockefeller University, is elected a Trustee of the Institute. A distinguished scientist, Nurse shared the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Leland Hartwell and R. Timothy Hunt for fundamental discoveries concerning control of the cell cycle.

The Trustees elect Craig A. Alexander as the Institute's vice president and general counsel.

Twenty-eight outstanding biomedical researchers in the Baltics, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia have been named HHMI international research scholars.

Six talented students from underrepresented groups in the science have been awarded the 2006 Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute wants to shorten the time it takes to translate basic science discoveries into new medical treatments by challenging graduate schools to change the way students are trained. As a first step, HHMI has awarded $10 million to fund 13 innovative graduate programs that will introduce Ph.D. students to the world of clinical medicine.

A research team led by HHMI investigator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Edwin R. Chapman, has identified the cellular receptor for botulinum neurotoxin A.

A new genetic analysis of more than 12,000 individuals has found that a decrease in low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, of as little as 15 percent, sustained over the long term can dramatically reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. The study was carried out by HHMI investigator Helen A. Hobbs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.

HHMI researchers and their colleagues have discovered a new retrovirus in humans that is closely related to a cancer-causing virus found in mice. Their findings describe the first documented cases of human infection with a retrovirus that is native to rodents.

Joan A. Steitz, HHMI investigator from Yale University, and Ronald M. Evans, HHMI investigator from the Salk Institute, receive the prestigious Gairdner International Award.

Teaching often takes a back seat to research at leading American universities. Determined to change that fact, HHMI combed the country for leading research scientists who, through their teaching and mentoring, are striving to ignite the scientific spark in a new generation of students. Now, 20 of the best will receive $1 million each from HHMI to put their innovative ideas into action as HHMI professors at 18 research universities across the country.

Hal Dietz, HHMI investigator at Johns Hopkins University and team have discovered a commonly prescribed blood pressure medication may provide the first ray of hope in preventing potentially deadly complications of Marfan syndrome, a genetic disease that weakens the structural meshwork of blood vessels.

Today's academic and industrial research models have become far too conservative, according to Gerald M. Rubin, director of HHMIs Janelia Farm Research Campus. Rubin presents his provocative viewpoints on the state of biomedical research in a Leading Edge commentary article published in the April 21, 2006, issue of the journal Cell.

In the frantic world of fruitfly courtship, the difference between attracting a mate and going home alone may depend on having the right wing spots. Now, HHMI researcher Sean Carroll at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has learned which elements of fly DNA make these spots come and go in different species.

Seven HHMI investigators, along with an HHMI professor, an international research scholar, and a member of the scientific review board are elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Five current HHMI investigators, one trustee of the Institute, one member of the Institute’s scientific review board, and one HHMI international research scholar are among those honored with membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Researchers have greatly shortened the time it takes to create a mouse model of human liver cancer—going from about a year with standard techniques down to about one month with the new approach. Using this technology, HHMI scientists at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have already identified two genes that play a key role in driving the establishment of liver cancer.

HIV flips for membranes. That's the conclusion of new research from HHMI investigator Michael F. Summers and colleagues who have identified a new drug target that could defeat HIV's rapid evolution, the main mechanism of drug resistance.

A new light microscope so powerful that it allows scientists peering inside cells to discern the precise location of nearly each individual protein they are studying has been developed and successfully demonstrated by scientists at HHMI's Janelia Farm Research Campus in collaboration with researchers at the National Institutes of Health and Florida State University.

Jack E. Dixon, dean of scientific affairs at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, and member of HHMI's Medical Advisory Board, is named vice president and chief scientific officer.

HHMI researcher Charles S. Zuker and Nicholas J.P. Ryba at the National Institutes of Health and their team of researchers have identified the cells and the receptor responsible for sour taste, the primary gateway in all mammals for the detection of spoiled and unripe food sources.

HHMI recruits 10 additional scientists,— group leaders and fellows–to head research laboratories at its Janelia Farm Research Campus. The scientists selected in the latest recruitment effort will move to Janelia Farm during the late summer and fall of 2006.

Open For Discovery—after six years of intense planning, construction, and recruiting, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute opens its new scientific community at Janelia Farm Research Campus.

HHMI researchers find that a typical breast or colorectal tumor results from mutations in about 90 genes. Bert Vogelstein from Johns Hopkins leads the study.

HHMI investigator Jack Szostak at the Massachusetts General Hospital receives the 2006 Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. He shares the prize with Carol W. Grieder of Johns Hopkins and Elizabeth H. Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco.

HHMI investigator Craig Mello of the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Stanford researcher Andrew Fire are honored with the Nobel prize for their discovery of RNA interference.

The Institute of Medicine honors the contributions of seven HHMI investigators and an HHMI professor.

Thirty-nine outstanding scientists in Latin America and Canada are named HHMI international scholars.

HHMI announces a new competition for the appointment of outstanding physician-scientists as HHMI investigators. The Institute expects to appoint 15 new researches by Fall 2007.

Neuroscientist Edwin W. McCleskey is appointed Scientific Officer to work at Headquarters to support the research of HHMI investigators in more than 300 laboratories across the nation.

Five HHMI investigators and an HHMI professor have received awards for scientific achievement from the National Academy of Sciences.

The first detailed images of an elusive drug target on the outer wall of bacteria may aid the design of novel antibiotics. The work was carried out by HHMI international research scholar Natalie C.J. Strynadka at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Studies of human tumor cells implanted in mice have shown that the abnormal activation of four genes drives the spread of breast cancer to the lungs. The research team was led by HHMI investigator Joan Massagué at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Jeremy Nathans, HHMI investigator at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues at Johns Hopkins and the University of California, Santa Barbara have conducted studies that have implications not only for the evolution of color vision, but also for the evolution of sensory systems in general.

Prestigious Gairdner International Award recognizes Thomas A. Steitz's pioneering work on the structure of the ribosome.

HHMI investigators Ronald M. Evans and Robert J. Lefkowitz are awarded the Albany Medical Center Prize.

A study carried out by Li-Huei Tsai, an HHMI investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has found that an enhanced environment restores memory in mice with neurodegeneration.

Ten HHMI investigators and two HHMI professors are among those honored with membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Eleven HHMI investigators are elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

HHMI helps 111 medical and dental students devote a year to research.

Researchers, including teams led by three HHMI investigators, have found that a much-studied gene helps nerve cells recognize one another and grow apart during neural development.

Gerald M. Rubin, HHMI vice president and director of the Janelia Farm Research Campus, and HHMI investigator Morgan Sheng are elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society.

Frank William Gay, who served as an HHMI Trustee from 1984 until his retirement in 2006, dies.

A new database reveals a 700-member strong army of proteins involved in the DNA repair response. The research was led by HHMI investigator Stephen J. Elledge of Harvard.

Michael Rudnicki, an HHMI international research scholar at the Ottawa Health Research Institute, and colleagues have identified a new population of stem cells that act to repair muscle after damage.

A study led by HHMI investigator Michael N. Shadlen at the University of Washington has revealed primates, and their neurons, in the act of reasoning.

HHMI investigator Robert J. Lefkowitz wins the Shaw Prize for elucidating the major receptor system that mediates the response of cells and organs to drugs and hormones.

A $22.5 million HHMI initiative aims to close the gap between research institutions and their local communities by supporting educational programs intended to stimulate an interest in science, particularly among young students.

HHMI investigator William R. Jacobs Jr. and colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine have produced a genetically altered strain of tuberculosis that elicits a stronger immune response than the current vaccine, BCG.

By short-circuiting the sensory organ that detects the chemical cues mice use to attract mates, researchers have prompted female mice to behave like male mice in the throes of courtship. The work was carried out by Catherine Dulac, an HHMI investigator at Harvard University.

Huda Y. Zoghbi, an HHMI researcher at Baylor College of Medicine, delivers the inaugural public lecture Janelia Farm, titled "The Path to Understanding and Treating Neurological Diseases."

Six HHMI investigators and an international research scholar are elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

HHMI announces the Science Education Alliance, which will become a national network of scientists and educators working collaboratively to develop and distribute new materials and methods to the education community.

HHMI investigator Mario R. Capecchi wins 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

HHMI adds 15 patient-oriented researchers in an initiative intended to speed the translation of basic discoveries into improved treatments.

Randy L. Buckner, an HHMI investigator Harvard University, and colleagues have shown that normal aging disrupts communication between different regions of the brain.

Researchers have exposed how one of the genes most commonly mutated in human cancers helps good cells go bad— revealing new targets for cancer drugs. The study was led by Bert Vogelstein, an HHMI investigator at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

HHMI investigator David Kingsley at Stanford University School of Medicine and colleagues have found that the same genetic machinery generates skin color evolution in fish and humans.

HHMI investigator Mark Bear and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have discovered that many of the symptoms of fragile X syndrome can be eliminated in mice by reducing the expression of a single gene in the brain.

New studies by Janelia Farm group leader Karel Svoboda and colleagues at Janelia Farm and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have illuminated the computational power of neurons.

Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, Senior International Partner at the law firm of Wilmer Hale in Washington, D.C., is elected a Trustee.

HHMI Trustee Richard G. Darman, a financial executive with a distinguished career in public service, dies at age 64.

HHMI selects five young scientists as recipients of this year's Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study.

HHMI investigator Xiaowei Zhuang and colleagues at Harvard University announce a new microscopy technique that transforms millions of points of light into detailed 3-D images of many of the tiniest structures of cells.

Joanne Chory, an HHMI investigator at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, shows that plants can sense midnight and start tasks, such as growth and protein synthesis, which are typically neglected during the day.

HHMI international research scholar Robert Ménard and colleagues show that malaria-causing parasites start evading the body's immune system much sooner than previously thought—right after the mosquito injects the parasites through the skin and before the parasites reach the liver.

Charles S. Zuker, an HHMI investigator at the University of California, San Diego, delivers a public lecture at Janelia Farm, titled "Common Sense about Taste–from the Tongue to the Brain: How We Transform Sensation into Perception." The lecture is the second in a series called "Dialogues of Discovery at Janelia Farm."

Jeffrey C. Magee and colleagues at Janelia Farm find a new mode of information storage in the brain.

Thomas R. Cech announces that he will step down as HHMI president in spring 2009.

Jeremy R. Knowles, an accomplished chemist and an HHMI Trustee for nearly a decade, dies.

Just three years after discovering a genetic mutation that causes a trio of leukemias, researchers, including HHMI investigator D. Gary Gilliland and his team at Brigham and Women's Hospital, help move a new leukemia drug into clinical trials.

Eight HHMI investigators and three HHMI professors are elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The National Academy of Sciences elects four HHMI investigators, an HHMI professor, and two members of the Institute's advisory boards.

A team led by HHMI investigator Evan E. Eichler at the University of Washington produces the first high-resolution maps of several human genomes, helping researchers understand how humans differ from each other.

HHMI investigator David Baker and colleagues at the University of Washington launch "Foldit," a free online game in which players around the world compete to design proteins.

HHMI selects 56 of the nation's top scientists to be HHMI investigators. The 42 men and 14 women represent 31 institutions nationwide, including seven institutions that are adding an HHMI investigator for the first time.

A team led by Jack W. Szostak, HHMI investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, builds a model protocell capable of copying DNA.

Karel Svoboda and colleagues at Janelia Farm identify a chemical messenger that helps different sites on individual neurons coordinate with one another.

A team led by Olivier Pourquié, an HHMI investigator at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, uncovers the mechanism that guides vertebral development in the early embryo and makes sure each species ends up with the right number of vertebrae.

In a proteomics class developed by Pavel A. Pevzner, an HHMI professor and a professor of computer science at University of California, San Diego, undergraduates use bioinformatics to find the genes that created proteins found in a bacterium.

New research on fruit flies, led by HHMI investigator Paul Ahlquist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, could yield new flu treatments.

Research led by Ronald M. Evans, HHMI investigator at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, identifies drugs that enhance exercise endurance.

HHMI international research scholar Jean-Laurent Casanova and colleagues identify a genetic defect that makes children with meningitis and other serious infections susceptible to attack by a certain type of bacteria.

Thomas R. Cech, Nobel laureate and president of HHMI, delivers a public talk, part of the "Dialogues of Discovery" series at Janelia Farm, titled "RNA Enzymes and the Origins of Life."

HHMI investigator Robert J. Lefkowitz, Duke University Medical Center, receives the National Medal of Science.

HHMI investigator Douglas A. Melton and colleagues at Harvard University create insulin-producing cells from adult pancreatic cells.

Professor Alison F. Richard, vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, is elected a Trustee.

Distinguished biochemist and long-time HHMI investigator Robert Tjian is elected new HHMI president.

HHMI investigator Stephen R. Quake and colleagues at Stanford University develop a new prenatal blood test that detects Down syndrome and two other serious chromosomal defects in a small sample of pregnant women. The test might provide a safer and faster alternative to invasive prenatal tests such as amniocentesis.

Experiments with mice, conducted by HHMI investigator Eric R. Kandel and colleagues at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, provide insight into how behavioral conditioning can affect the brain and may lead to new ways to treat depression and anxiety disorders.

HHMI investigator Roger Tsien wins 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Seven HHMI investigators are elected to the Institute of Medicine.

Michael R. Green, an HHMI investigator at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, develops a systematic method for screening the genomes of cancer cells to detect genes likely to suppress metastasis.

HHMI announces a $10 million pilot program to enable eight teams of researchers to pursue collaborative, potentially transformative research projects.

By manipulating a newly identified regulatory protein, HHMI investigator Stuart Orkin and colleagues at Children's Hospital, Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute reactivate a dormant fetal hemoglobin gene— research that could have therapeutic benefits for patients with life-threatening anemias.

Leslie B. Vosshall and colleagues at the Rockefeller University discover a type of odor-detecting protein that may explain some of the gaps in researchers' knowledge of how insects detect odors in their environment. Understanding how insects detect odors and how odors influence their behavior may help researchers identify new ways to fend off pests that transmit diseases like malaria or destroy agricultural crops.

Rajesh S. Gokhale, an HHMI international research scholar at the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi, creates a compound that stops tuberculosis by hitting four of the bacterium's crucial metabolic pathways at the same time, weakening and ultimately destroying the pathogen. If the compound can be made into a safe and effective drug for humans, it might one day replace the current multidrug treatment for TB.

A team led by Harald F. Hess at HHMI's Janelia Farm Research Campus develops a new imaging technology that produces the best three-dimensional resolution ever seen with an optical microscope.

Studies in mice conducted by Simon Foote, an HHMI international research scholar at the University of Tasmania, suggest that blood platelets can destroy malaria parasites, but that a single dose of aspirin might interfere with the platelets' antimalarial effect.

HHMI investigator Arul M. Chinnaiyan and colleagues at the University of Michigan identify a new biological marker present in the urine of patients with prostate cancer that indicates whether the cancer is progressing and spreading.

HHMI selects nine talented young scientists to receive Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study—up from five in previous years.

Clayton S. Rose, a senior lecturer at the Harvard Business School and 20-year veteran of J.P. Morgan & Co., is elected a Trustee.

HHMI announces a partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa to establish an international research center focused on controlling the devastating coepidemic of tuberculosis and HIV.

Through a new HHMI initiative, 50 of the nation's best early career scientists will have more time and resources to pursue their boldest research ideas.

HHMI collaborates to launch the DIADEM Challenge—an international scientific competition to speed development of computational tools that accurately and automatically reconstruct the “shape” of brain cells from available light microscopy data.

Eight HHMI scientists and one member of HHMI's scientific review board are elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Seven HHMI investigators, one HHMI senior scientific officer, one HHMI professor, and one HHMI international research scholar are elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers led by Joan Massagué, an investigator at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, identify a set of rogue genes that accelerates the spread of cancer from its primary site in the breast to a secondary location in bone marrow.

HHMI investigator Li-Huei Tsai and colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology identify a protein that hampers learning and memory by keeping DNA inside neurons tightly coiled and unable to “relax.” Compounds that block the activity of this newly identified protein, helping DNA unwind, appear to enhance memory in mice.

The American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States, honors HHMI scientists and board members.

Former HHMI Trustee, Alexander G. Bearn, M.D., a distinguished physician, scientist, and author, dies at age 86.

In independent studies, teams led by HHMI investigators D. Gary Gilliland of Brigham and Women's Hospital (now senior vice president at Merck Research Laboratories) and Stephen J. Elledge (also of BWH) identify potential drug targets for cancers long deemed “untouchable” due to the type of genetic mutation they contain.

An expert committee convened by the Association of American Medical Colleges and HHMI, for the first time defines scientific competencies for future physicians.

HHMI investigator Ronald M. Evans, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, delivers a public talk at the Janelia Farm Research Campus. The talk, titled “Unlocking Ability: What Can Research Teach Us About Exercise?,” is the fourth in a series called “Dialogues of Discovery at Janelia Farm.”

A new microscopy technique, developed by Mats G.L. Gustafsson and colleagues at Janelia Farm, enables researchers to capture short videos of fast-moving cellular processes while delivering super-high resolution images of whole cells.

HHMI investigator Jeffrey M. Friedman, of the Rockefeller University, receives the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine, sharing the award with Douglas L. Coleman, emeritus scientist at the Jackson Laboratory.

Joan Massagué, an HHMI investigator at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, wins the inaugural Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine.

David H. Rowitch, an HHMI investigator at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues uncover new evidence suggesting that damage to nerve cells in people with multiple sclerosis accumulates because the body's natural mechanism for repairing the nerve coating, called myelin, stalls out.

Eleven promising physician-scientists whose research interests range from obesity to childhood cancer will share a total of $4 million from HHMI.

A study led by HHMI investigator Bonnie L. Bassler of Princeton University shows that interfering with communication among bacteria can prevent them from mounting a unified assault on their host organism.

HHMI investigator Bernardo L. Sabatini and colleagues at Harvard Medical School dramatically improve the spatial resolution of two-photon microscopy, a method for seeing beneath the surface of the brain— enabling scientists to see tiny details inside relatively intact samples of brain tissue.

A new health science curriculum, developed by HHMI professor Claudia M. Neuhauser at the University of Minnesota, integrates seemingly unrelated topics, such as biology and statistics or chemistry and ethics, to prepare students for an increasingly interconnected world.

Elaine Fuchs, an HHMI investigator at the Rockefeller University, receives the National Medal of Science.

Research led by Joseph W. Thornton, an HHMI early career scientist at the University of Oregon, suggests that protein evolution is irreversible—that natural selection can't loop back on itself, allowing an organism to revert to its ancestral form.

HHMI investigator Jeffrey M. Friedman of the Rockefeller University receives the Keio Medical Science Prize.

Jack W. Szostak, an HHMI investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He shares the award with Elizabeth Blackburn of the University of California, San Francisco, and Carol Greider of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for “the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.”

Thomas A. Steitz, an HHMI investigator at Yale University, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, and Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science, win the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.

Eight HHMI investigators are elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

Using high-throughput DNA sequencing technology, a team led by HHMI investigator Richard P. Lifton of Yale University diagnose a genetic disease by completely sequencing all of a patient's genes.

Research by HHMI investigator Charles S. Zuker of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and colleagues at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the St. Louis University School of Medicine explains how the taste of carbonation is perceived.

HHMI awards grants to 23 schools that are developing new graduate programs or enhancing existing programs that prepare scientists to translate laboratory discoveries into new medical treatments and diagnostics.

HHMI expands its Science Education Alliance by choosing 12 additional colleges and universities to join a national network of educators who are teaching an innovative genomics course that involves students in scientific discovery.

Freda D. Miller, an HHMI international research scholar at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, discovers a type of stem cell in the skin that acts like certain stem cells found in embryos. These newly-described dermal stem cells may one day prove useful for treating neurological disorders and persistent wounds.

At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, HHMI professor Catherine L. Drennan (also an HHMI investigator) infuses her new introductory chemistry course lectures with examples from biology and medicine, generating enthusiasm and an appreciation of chemistry among her students.

Robert Lefkowitz, an HHMI investigator at Duke University, wins the Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biomedicine.

Two groups of HHMI scientists working independently identify a critical enzyme that allows a malaria-causing parasite to take over and thrive in human red blood cells.

An ambitious analysis by Catherine Dulac, an HHMI investigator at Harvard University, and colleagues helps shed light on the complicated underpinnings of behavior in the brain. The study demonstrates that for more than 1,300 genes active in the brain, there is a significant bias as to which copy is active–the one inherited from the mother or the one that comes from the father.

HHMI selects five talented young scientists to receive Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study.

Fred R. Lummis, a Houston businessman and entrepreneur, is elected a Trustee.

Evolutionary biologist Sean B. Carroll, an HHMI investigator at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an award-winning educator and author, is named HHMI vice president for science education.

Hanchuan Peng and colleagues at Janelia Farm unveil a new software package, packed with tools for visualizing, analyzing, and measuring complex, three-dimensional biomedical images.

Eleven HHMI scientists are elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Mohamoud Jibrell is named HHMI vice president for information technology.

Jack E. Dixon, HHMI vice president and chief scientific officer, and HHMI scientific review board member Gregory A. Petsko of Brandeis University are elected to the American Philosophical Society, the oldest learned society in the United States.

William Bishai is named as the first permanent director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research for Tuberculosis and HIV in South Africa.

HHMI awards $79 million for science education to research universities and top scientists.

Teams led by Gregory J. Hannon, an HHMI investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and Svante Pääbo, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute, compare human and Neandertal genomes and find "astonishingly few" differences in the DNA that codes for proteins.

Cheryl Moore is named HHMI's first chief operating officer.

Kurt L. Schmoke, dean of the Howard University School of Law, is elected chairman of the HHMI Trustees.

Janelia Farm scientists develop a technique to measure activity in the tiny brain of a fruit fly while the insect is walking.

HHMI awards more than $360,000 to more than double the capacity of the Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center, a resource for a worldwide community of scientists who study the fruit fly.

Scientists competing in the DIADEM Challenge design new computational tools to speed the mapping of neurons.

Jeffrey M. Friedman, an HHMI investigator at The Rockefeller University, and Douglas Colman of the Jackson Laboratory share the Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.

HHMI and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation announce a new research program that will provide critical support to some of the nation's most innovative plant scientists.

Timothy Harris, director of the Applied Physics and Instrumentation Group at Janelia Farm delivers a public talk, titled "Seeing the Brain in Action: A Toolmaker's Perspective." The talk is the seventh in a series called "Dialogues of Discovery at Janelia Farm."

Six HHMI scientists are elected to the Institute of Medicine.

A study led by Joseph S. Takahashi, an HHMI investigator at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, finds that cellular clocks throughout the body are precisely synchronized thanks to tiny fluctuations in body temperature.

Susan Lindquist, an HHMI investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology receives the National Medal of Science. Also honored is Stephen J. Benkovic of Pennsylvania State University, who is a member of HHMI's Scientific Review Board.

A study by HHMI investigator Bert Vogelstein and colleagues at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reveals that many pancreatic tumors take nearly 20 years to become lethal after the first genetic perturbations appear, suggesting there is an opportunity for early diagnosis of the often lethal cancer.

Evan E. Eichler, an HHMI investigator at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and colleagues provide a detailed analysis of gene duplication across the human genome, revealing far more variation in gene copy than anticipated. The variability affects many genes that play a critical role in brain development. It also helps tell the story of human evolution, and may provide important clues into disease development.

HHMI launches competition for international early career scientists.

Matthew K. Waldor, an HHMI investigator at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Pacific Biosciences conduct a rapid genetic analysis of bacteria collected from Haitian patients and conclude that that the strain of cholera sweeping through post-earthquake Haiti originated in South Asia.

HHMI launches a documentary film unit to create science features for television.

HHMI investigator Kerry J. Ressler and colleagues at Emory University School of Medicine identify a genetic marker that appears to predict a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder in women.

HHMI Bulletin debuts iPad edition.

Eric Betzig and colleagues at Janelia Farm create a new microscope that uses a thin sheet of light to reveal the dynamic inner life of cells.

A team led by Melissa J. Moore, an HHMI investigator at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Jeff Gelles of Brandeis University has devised an imaging strategy that captures a cell's splicing machinery on camera as it assembles. This method will enable researchers to do more detailed analyses of molecular systems.

Elaine Fuchs, an HHMI investigator at the Rockefeller University, receives the Albany Medical Center Prize. Eight HHMI investigators are elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Nitin Kotak is elected HHMI vice president and chief financial officer.

Janelia Farm group leader Anthony Leonardo delivers a public lecture titled “Constructing Reality: What Illusions Tell Us About the Mind.” The talk is the ninth in a series called “Dialogues of Discovery at Janelia Farm.”

HHMI announces a $3 million grant to expand the National Academies Summer Institute for Undergraduate Education in Biology from a single location at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to a total of nine regional centers over the next five years.

HHMI early career scientist Peter W. Reddien and colleagues find that adult planarians (flatworms) harbor pluripotent stem cells—cells capable of producing the diverse range of tissue types necessary to build a new, complete animal. The discovery that an adult pluripotent stem cell is responsible for regeneration in planarians could lead to new insights useful in the budding field of human regenerative medicine.

The National Academy of Sciences elects six HHMI investigators. HHMI investigator Joanne Chory (Salk Institute for Biological Studies) and Thomas Steitz (Yale University) are elected foreign members of the Royal Society.

A detailed comparison of DNA and RNA in human cells, led by Vivian G. Cheung, an HHMI investigator at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, suggests that unknown cellular processes are acting on RNA to generate a sequence that is not an exact replica of the DNA from which it is copied. This variability may contribute to differences in disease susceptibility.

HHMI and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (GBMF) select 15 of the nation’s most innovative plant scientists to join a new initiative that boosts much needed funding for fundamental plant science research.

HHMI, the Max Planck Society, and the Wellcome Trust announce their collaboration on a new top-tier, open access journal that will aim to attract and define the very best research publications for the biomedical and life sciences.

HHMI early career scientist Karl Deisseroth and colleagues at Stanford University used light-activated proteins to home in on and manipulate specific neurons in the brains of mice, uncovering a mechanism that appears to be involved in social dysfunction disorders such as autism. Their findings support a unifying hypothesis that could begin to explain the symptoms of these disorders.

HHMI announces a new fellowship program will enable 48 graduate students from 22 countries to devote their full attention to research at a critical time during their professional development as scientists.

Philip Beachy, HHMI investigator at the Stanford University School of Medicine, receives Keio Medical Science Prize for his identification of Hedgehog, a key molecule in development, and its medical applications. Arthur L. Horwich, HHMI investigator at the Yale School of Medicine, receives the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research.

A new study in fruit flies by HHHI investigator Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist at the Rockefeller University in New York, suggests that DEET confuses insects by jamming their odor receptors.

Human evolution—one of the most discussed scientific topics and one of the hardest for teachers to tackle—is the focus of the HHMI's 2011 Holiday Lectures on Science.

A study by HHMI investigator David H. Rowitch and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, finds that in one region of the human brain, new cells are generated only until 18 months of age. The work relied on a new collection of specially prepared brain samples that Rowitch established with HHMI support. The new brain bank has also provided clues to why the brain can’t reverse the cellular damage that results from certain diseases.

HHMI debuts “The Making of the Fittest” at the national Association of Biology Teachers annual meeting. These three short science films use vivid storytelling to teach the vital concepts of adaptation and natural selection.

Seven HHMI scientists are elected to the Institute of Medicine. Sean B. Carroll, HHMI’s vice president for science education and a long-time HHMI investigator, is awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science from the Franklin Institute.

Fragile X syndrome and tuberous sclerosis both cause autism and have an overlapping constellation of symptoms. But a study by Mark F. Bear, an HHMI investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and colleagues reveals that the underlying cellular mechanisms of the two diseases are polar opposites and that treatments for one disease may not be applicable to the other.