The 2018 HHMI Investigators

Blood Diseases

“I am motivated to tackle basic science questions that are relevant to human disease, and by the potential to develop novel therapies for patients.”

Ancient DNA

“What drives me is the abundance and diversity of life and the fear of running out of time. There is so much to learn. I want to be able to do it all.”

Neural-Immune Communication

“We are working in an exciting time, as neuroimmunologists begin to realize how little we really know. The more we learn, the less we know.”

Epigenetic Liquids

“I like to do things differently and put things together in new ways. The possibility that what I do could have an impact on our understanding of the world is very attractive to me.”

Synthetic Neurobiology

“When I was a kid, I was obsessed with questions like, What’s the meaning of life? What’s happiness? What’s suffering? Eventually, I hope to help answer some of those questions through tools for understanding the brain.”

Plant Metabolism

“It’s amazing to me that plants produce hundreds of different molecules, and, in most cases, we have no idea what they do.”

Engineering through Nature

“I want to know how the world works and to be able to do something that’s useful for people.”

Integrative Brain Function

“What drives me is developing a deeper understanding of the mind and animal and human behavior.”

Organelle Biogenesis

“I love to see things that I’m not expecting, things that I don’t understand. I like to explore areas that are new to me even though it can be risky.”

Gene Switches

“I’m driven by the unexpected – the promise that there will be a unifying principle behind seemingly disparate facts.”

Virus Evolution

“I find it fascinating to watch evolution and see the amazing things that can occur by incremental small changes, where, in the end, the whole seems greater than its parts.”

CRISPR Immunity

“I’m fascinated by how a cell works. And bacteria live by themselves, so they need to do everything. My curiosity is to find out how these little machines make life possible.”

Healthy Aging

“I cannot see anything better than doing science. You come into the lab every day and don’t know what you are going to find – that is a thrill.”

Metabolic Disorders

“I’m driven to understand how our metabolic state influences disease, and whether we can reverse disease processes by changing our metabolism.”

Intracellular Transport

“Deciphering basic mechanisms in cell biology has led to many advances in medicine and agriculture. My curiosity to understand the mechanisms of intracellular transport is what drives me.”

Neural Sensory Systems

“I’m drawn to things I don’t know. When I can’t find published answers, that’s where I get excited. That’s where research can lead to important discoveries.”

Bacterial Growth

“I’m excited to study how bacteria grow their cell surface. How does a cell build itself? It’s an interesting mechanistic question with relevance to antibiotic development.”

Homeostatic Behaviors

“I want to understand the connection between physiology and behavior – how the brain senses our internal state and then transforms this into motivation.”

Plant Flowering

“I want to find out the unknown – the hidden side of questions that, in the moment, may feel like you’re the only one who cares about them.”

HHMI investigators are “trail blazers” who tackle difficult research questions that may take years to answer. Competitively selected, our investigators are HHMI employees, with funding for salary, lab staff, and equipment at their host institutions.