HHMI - Howard Hughes Medical Institute

HHMI is pledging $2 billion to achieve goals that will benefit us all. Learn more about our strategy to influence academic science at key career stages. 

When pathogens attack, the NPR1 protein steps in to control a plant’s immune response. Scientists have now figured out what the protein looks like and how it works – a possible boon for agriculture.

In a study that followed hundreds of mice over their lifespans, calorie restriction combined with time-restricted eating boosted longevity.

Twenty years after scientists first reported reading the human genome, the Telomere-to-Telomere consortium has now unveiled a complete version. Their work uncovered hundreds of new genes and opens the door to new insights into evolution and disease.

For over two decades, scientists have puzzled over how vertebrates make the essential polysaccharide hyaluronic acid, which has broad medical applications. One team took a different tack and solved the mystery.

More than two decades of effort went into a project that has now revealed the structure of a crucial signaling molecule, opening the door to new and better drugs for some cancers.

Tiny cellular machines called ribosomes build proteins. When this building process goes awry in bacteria, ribosomes collide, triggering the arrival of a first responder molecule that begins a rescue operation.

Before it can wreak havoc in human cells, the virus that causes COVID-19 must hide the tip of its genetic material. By delving into how the virus puts on this disguise, researchers have identified a unique way to fight it.

Gut bacteria brew all sorts of chemicals, but we don’t know what most of them do. A new study suggests that one such compound, previously linked to cancer, may serve as a bizarre weapon in microbial skirmishes.