The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has selected the 50 scientists to participate in its 2009 Early Career Scientist Program. The program will provide each researcher with a salary, benefits, and a research budget of $1.5 million over the next six years.
HHMI received over 2000 applications from scientists of all backgrounds, including basic biological and biomedical research, and areas of chemistry, physics, computer science and engineering that are directly related to biology or medicine.
HHMI launched the program in 2008 to address what it perceived as a lack of funding opportunities for early-career faculty. The scientists selected for the program will have free reign to explore and change direction in their research. The program's goal is for these scientists to take on significant research challenges, such as identifying the genes and mechanisms controlling regeneration in flatworms and zebrafish, developing stem cell models for neurodegenerative disease, and characterizing the forces that move cells to create new tissues and organs.
The selected researchers will begin the program in September 2009.
HHMI is planning a second Early Career Scientist competition for 2012.
The 2009 HHMI early-career scientists are:
• Iannis Aifantis, New York University Medical Center
• Luis A. Amaral, Northwestern University
• Peter Baumann, Stowers Institute for Medical Research
• James E. Bear, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Bradley E. Bernstein, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Daniel I. Bolnick, University of Texas at Austin
• Sean F. Brady, The Rockefeller University
• Martin D. Burke, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Howard Y. Chang, Stanford University School of Medicine
• Martin J. Cohn, University of Florida, Gainsville
• Jeremy S. Dasen, New York University Medical Center
• Russell A. DeBose-Boyd, University of Texas Southwestern Medical
• Karl Deisseroth, Stanford University
• Xinzhong Dong, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Michael A. Dyer, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• Kevin Eggan, Harvard University
• Joaquin M. Espinosa, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Marc R. Freeman, University of Massachusetts Medical School
• Mark A. Frye, University of California, Los Angeles
• Tamir Gonen, University of Washington
• Eric C. Greene, Columbia University
• Konrad Hochedlinger, Massachusetts General Hospital
• Neil Hunter, University of California, Davis
• Susan M. Kaech, Yale University
• Jeffrey S. Kieft, University of Colorado School of Medicine
• Rob Knight, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Michael T. Laub, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ming Lei, University of Michigan
• Harmit S. Malik, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Joshua T. Mendell, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Tirin Moore, Stanford University School of Medicine
• Kenneth D. Poss, Duke University Medical Center
• Molly Przeworski, University of Chicago Medical Center
• Peter W. Reddien, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research/Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Aviv Regev, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Christopher M. Sassetti, University of Massachusetts Medical School
• Kristin Scott, University of California, Berkeley
• Reuben J. Shaw, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
• Anita Sil, University of California, San Francisco
• Maria Spies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Brent R. Stockwell, Columbia University
• Hui Sun, University of California, Los Angeles
• Toshiyasu Taniguchi, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
• Joseph W. Thornton, University of Oregon
• Sinisa Urban, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Amy J. Wagers, Harvard Medical School
• John B. Wallingford, University of Texas at Austin
• Rachel I. Wilson, Harvard Medical School
• Ryohei Yasuda, Duke University Medical Center
• Jennifer A. Zallen, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
