HHMI awards University $2.4 million

The University has been awarded $2.4 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Biomedical Research Resource Program to support and expand programs in immunology and structural biology.

“The Howard Hughes Medical Institute continues to play a critical role in developing and supporting research both at our institution and across the country,” said Glenn Steele Jr., Dean of the Biological Sciences Division and Vice President for Medical Affairs.

“The Hughes Medical Institute has an uncanny ability to understand the needs of academic medical centers and to provide the infrastructure support to help us recruit faculty, build much-needed core facilities and provide flexible monies for pilot projects,” Steele said.

The Biomedical Research Resource Program aims to support U.S. medical schools in their efforts to maintain and modernize research capabilities for basic and patient-oriented research.

This year, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute awarded a total of $92 million to be paid over a four-year period to 41 public and private medical schools. Individual awards ranged from $1.6 million to $4 million.

“We have developed a strategic vision for basic, translational and clinical research, and immunology and structural biology are key elements in this plan,” said Steele.

“These funds will help us build a critical mass of faculty more quickly and provide the types of centralized resources needed for emerging areas of research.”

The grant will be used to help fund six new junior-faculty members at the assistant professor level—three in immunology and three in structural biology. In addition to supporting pilot projects, the grant also will allow for the expansion of core facilities in immunology and the establishment of shared facilities in structural biology.