Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a nonprofit medical research organization that employs hundreds of leading biomedical scientists working at the forefront of their fields. In addition, through its grants program and other activities, HHMI is helping to enhance science education at all levels and maintain the vigor of biomedical science worldwide. The Institute is one of the world's largest philanthropies, with laboratories across the United States and grants programs throughout the world. Its headquarters and conference center are located in Chevy Chase, Maryland, near Washington, D.C. Using the powerful new tools of molecular biology, HHMI research teams seek to explain how the human body functions and why disease occurs. HHMI investigators have been involved in many recent advances, from the discovery of genes related to cancer, heart disease, obesity, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and other diseases to new insights about how organisms develop, cells communicate or learning occurs. In 2003, the Institute broke ground in Ashburn, Virgina to begin construction on the Janelia Farm Research Campus. The complex will consist of laboratory space, a conference facility, temporary housing for visiting scientists, and many amenities. The collaborative nature of the research will bring biologists, physicists, chemists, computer scientists, and engineers together to tackle the most difficult problems confronting science. The Institute's grants program is the largest privately funded education initiative in U.S. history. The grants are helping to strengthen science education and encourage talented young people to pursue research and teaching careers.