HHMI - Howard Hughes Medical Institue

Scientists have discovered that a brain region that controls hand and arm movement also offers a window into studying speech. The work brings researchers a step closer to building medical devices that help people who cannot speak.

Flies use visual cues to finesse their mental maps of the environment. Two new studies use virtual reality to show how. 

Activity goes awry for hundreds of genes in Down syndrome, the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability. Scientists have now found a way to calm the disordered activity – and restore cognitive abilities in mice.

HHMI is seeking to appoint approximately 20 new Investigators through a national open competition. This effort will expand HHMI’s community of nearly 300 Investigators, who perform basic biological research across the nation.

HHMI's Driving Change initiative aims to effect genuine and lasting culture change on research university campuses so that undergraduate students from all backgrounds, particularly those who belong to historically excluded groups, will excel in STEM. Letters of intent due February 7, 2020.

The mosquito-borne virus can harm fetuses in utero and cause the brain condition microcephaly. Now, scientists have identified a genetic pathway that’s targeted by Zika and revealed one protein’s role in brain development.

In humans and macaques, measles infection wipes out antibodies to previous pathogens and could make individuals more susceptible to disease. Until now, such long-term consequences of measles had been unknown.

The first complete genetic sequences of individual mountain lions point the way to better conservation strategies for saving threatened populations of the wild animals.

HHMI and the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) are convening a diverse group of stakeholders from across academia to consider how to improve research assessment policies and practices. All are invited to livestream the keynote, panel, and plenary talk sessions.