Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI)

Congratulations to HHMI Investigator David Baker who has won The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on computational protein design! He shares the prize with Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper for protein structure prediction. https://lnkd.in/eCbYhffB

Ever wonder what it’s like to win a Nobel Prize. ?? HHMI Investigator David Baker enjoyed a congratulatory phone call with his fellow Nobel Laureates, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper, and fielded questions from reporters before the sun rose at his home in Washington state. Read more about Baker’s prize-winning research: hhmi.news/3BNYrRd Photos by Ian C Haydon, UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design

HHMI Investigator David Baker has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on computational protein design! We recently spent a day in the lab with David learning about his groundbreaking work, the importance of basic science, and his passion for mentoring the next generation of scientists. Learn more about David's award-winning work: https://hhmi.news/3BNYrRd

?? Albany Prize Announced! HHMI Investigator Howard Chang, of Stanford University, along with Adrian Krainer (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) and Lynne Maquat (University of Rochester) were named the 2024 recipients of the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research. Chang is recognized for research that focuses on the 98% of the human genome that does not encode proteins. His discovery of long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) revealed the critical role they play in biological regulation, including how lncRNAs help control response to infections. In a recent study, Chang showed how Xist, one type of lncRNA found on the inactive X chromosome in females, can foster the development of autoimmune diseases. This finding offers a possible explanation as to why more women than men suffer from diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. The Albany Prize is one of the largest prizes of medicine and science in the United States. Chang, Krainer, and Maquat will share the $500,000 award. Learn more: https://hhmi.news/482tl4G

Catch up on all the exciting news and events from September at HHMI's Janelia Research Campus—read more below! ??

This year's medicine prize was shared by two individuals, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun. But did you know it's been awarded to a single person 40 times? Check out the statistics for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Learn more: https://bit.ly/3TXeLp4 #NobelPrize

ATTN DC Metro Area: A screening and discussion of the Emmy-nominated documentary “The Battle to Beat Malaria” by NOVA | PBS and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios will be held at 4:30 p.m. EDT on Weds. Oct. 9 at the former Newseum space in Downtown Washington, D.C. The event will be hosted by the International Vaccine Access Center of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute. Details and registration here: bit.ly/3MEYv80

Imagine going to the dentist with this set of teeth! These are teeth located on a snail’s “tongue,” or radula, which is constantly licking the ground to scrape up and transport food into the snail’s mouth as it moves. What am I looking at? In these images, you can see the rows and rows of hooked teeth that line a snail’s tongue. Notice that the right and left sides of the tongue are mirror images of each other. Depending on their age, and therefore the degree of damage they’ve incurred, the teeth range in shape from rounded to very sharp and pointed. These images have been colored to indicate the depth (distance) that each element of the image is from the viewer, with cooler colors like blue and purple being closer to the viewer and warmer colors like yellow and red being farther away. These images were created using confocal microscopy. Credit: Igor Siwanowicz, HHMI Janelia Download and learn more about these images here: https://hhmi.news/3XWZE05

?? Plan ahead for spring conferences at Janelia Research Campus! ?? Conferences with approaching deadlines include: 1?? Junior Scientist Workshop on Mechanistic Cognitive Neuroscience (Application deadline Oct. 8) 2?? Second Brains: Enteric Nervous Systems Across Phylogeny (Application deadline Oct. 22) 3?? Genetic Tools for New Model Organisms (Application deadline Oct. 29) 4?? AI Revolution Meets 4D Cellular Physiology (Application deadline Nov. 5) 5?? Grounding Cognition in Mechanistic Insight (Application deadline Nov. 21) 6?? Analysis and Modeling of Connectomes (Application deadline Dec. 3) ??? Accommodation & meals provided ?? Travel support is available Learn more and apply at janelia.org/conferences ??

HHMI Investigator Sheng Yang He of Duke University, discovered that plant immune systems depend on healthy colonies of microbes living on and inside their leaves to help them recognize harmful invaders or helpful bacteria. Disrupting these colonies can lead to disease and crop loss. Even beneficial microbes, in unhealthy amounts, can trigger a plant to attack its own leaves if the plant has a gene for autoimmune disorders — where the immune system can harm its host. The relationship between unhealthy microbe colonies and autoimmune disorders mimics these relationships found in the animal kingdom.