{"id":29552,"date":"2024-07-23T15:35:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T19:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biology.mit.edu\/?p=29552"},"modified":"2024-07-24T11:54:33","modified_gmt":"2024-07-24T15:54:33","slug":"mit-affiliates-named-2024-hhmi-investigators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biology.mit.edu\/mit-affiliates-named-2024-hhmi-investigators\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT affiliates named 2024 HHMI Investigators"},"content":{"rendered":"
The\u00a0Howard Hughes Medical Institute<\/a> (HHMI) today announced<\/a> its 2024 investigators, four of whom hail from the\u00a0School of Science<\/a> at MIT: Steven Flavell, Mary Gehring, Mehrad Jazayeri, and Gene-Wei Li.<\/p>\n Four others with MIT ties were also honored: Jonathan Abraham, graduate of the Harvard\/MIT MD-PhD Program; Dmitriy Aronov PhD \u201910; Vijay Sankaran, graduate of the Harvard\/MIT MD-PhD Program; and Steven McCarroll, institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.<\/p>\n Every three years, HHMI selects roughly two dozen new investigators who have significantly impacted their chosen disciplines to receive a substantial and completely discretionary grant. This funding can be reviewed and renewed indefinitely. The award, which totals roughly $11 million per investigator over the next seven years, enables scientists to continue working at their current institution, paying their full salary while providing financial support for researchers to be flexible enough to go wherever their scientific inquiries take them.<\/p>\n Of the almost 1,000 applicants this year, 26 investigators were selected for their ability to push the boundaries of science and for their efforts to create highly inclusive and collaborative research environments.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen scientists create environments in which others can thrive, we all benefit,\u201d says HHMI president Erin O\u2019Shea. \u201cThese newest HHMI Investigators are extraordinary, not only because of their outstanding research endeavors but also because they mentor and empower the next generation of scientists to work alongside them at the cutting edge.\u201d<\/p>\n Steven Flavell<\/strong><\/p>\n Steven Flavell<\/a>, associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences and investigator in the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, seeks to uncover the neural mechanisms that generate the internal states of the brain, for example, different motivational and arousal states. Working in the model organism, the\u00a0C. elegans<\/em> worm, the lab has used genetic, systems, and computational approaches to relate neural activity across the brain to precise features of the animal\u2019s behavior. In addition, they have mapped out the anatomical and functional organization of the serotonin system, mapping out how it modulates the internal state of\u00a0C. elegans<\/em>. As a newly named HHMI Investigator, Flavell will pursue research that he hopes will build a foundational understanding of how internal states arise and influence behavior in nervous systems in general. The work will employ brain-wide neural recordings, computational modeling, expansive research on neuromodulatory system organization, and studies of how the synaptic wiring of the nervous system constrains an animal\u2019s ability to generate different internal states.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that it should be possible to define the basis of internal states in\u00a0C. elegans<\/em> in concrete terms,\u201d Flavell says. \u201cIf we can build a thread of understanding from the molecular architecture of neuromodulatory systems, to changes in brain-wide activity, to state-dependent changes in behavior, then I think we\u2019ll be in a much better place as a field to think about the basis of brain states in more complex animals.\u201d<\/p>\n Mary Gehring<\/strong><\/p>\n Mary Gehring<\/a>, professor of biology and core member and David Baltimore Chair in Biomedical Research at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, studies how plant epigenetics modulates plant growth and development, with a long-term goal of uncovering the essential genetic and epigenetic elements of plant seed biology. Ultimately, the Gehring Lab\u2019s work provides the scientific foundations for engineering alternative modes of seed development and improving plant resiliency at a time when worldwide agriculture is in a uniquely precarious position due to climate changes.<\/p>\n The Gehring Lab uses genetic, genomic, computational, synthetic, and evolutionary approaches to explore heritable traits by investigating repetitive sequences, DNA methylation, and chromatin structure. The lab primarily uses the model plant\u00a0A. thaliana<\/em>, a member of the mustard family and the first plant to have its genome sequenced.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m pleased that HHMI has been expanding its support for plant biology, and gratified that our lab will benefit from its generous support,\u201d Gehring says. \u201cThe appointment gives us the freedom to step back, take a fresh look at the scientific opportunities before us, and pursue the ones that most interest us. And that\u2019s a very exciting prospect.\u201d<\/p>\n