HHMI names three at Stanford to prestigious 'early career scientist' posts

STANFORD, Calif. - The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has appointed three Stanford University researchers to six-year terms as the inaugural class of Howard Hughes Medical Institute Early Career Scientists. These appointments cap a keenly competitive selection process, at the end of which 50 young investigators at the pinnacle of their productivity were chosen from among more than 200 institutions nationwide.

The three are Howard Chang, MD, PhD; Tirin Moore, PhD; and Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD. Chang and Moore are Stanford University School of Medicine faculty members, while Deisseroth has a joint appointment with the medical school and Stanford's School of Engineering. The appointments were announced March 26.

The total size of the prestigious awards amounts to $1.5 million per researcher for laboratory budgets over a six-year period. HHMI will also fund each investigator's full salary and benefits, along with some costs of critical research equipment for new projects. HHMI's total investment in the program comes to about $200 million.

Coming at a time of tight funding for research, such guaranteed long-term support could not be more welcome. It liberates young investigators at a particularly opportune moment: it supports their ability to undertake efforts carrying both high risks and high stakes just when they typically are being weaned from direct funding by their affiliated universities to federal research grants.

It is unusual for more than two researchers per institution to receive an Early Career Scientist appointment. But a look at the Stanford recipients' work shows them to be especially creative.

Howard Chang

Chang, associate professor of dermatology, will use the award to support his laboratory's investigation into the function of long, non-coding RNAs. Traditionally thought to be mere messengers carrying protein-coding instructions from DNA to the cell's ribosomal factories, some large RNA molecules break from that mold to carry out other tasks. Although no one knows exactly what those tasks are, previous research in Chang's lab indicated that the long RNAs work to affect gene expression in the cellular nucleus and may help cells know where they are in the body.

"We'd like to learn more about the structure of these long non-coding RNAs and where they are physically located on the genome," said Chang. "It's going to require a variety of efforts, some of which may require us to develop some completely new technologies. This is a wonderful opportunity to take a break from the usual grind of grant writing to try things that are a bit more challenging or risky. We can think in a longer time frame."

Chang is also interested in understanding more about how genes are regulated over time. "We want to know how cells know whether they are young or old, and what gene expression programs are associated with aging," he said.

Tirin Moore

Moore, assistant professor of neurobiology, focuses on how networks of neurons in the brain selectively process visual stimuli. "You can't drive effectively if your attention keeps straying from the road," Moore said. It's necessary to ignore a majority of the visual information hitting the retina, while processing only what's relevant.

"For most of us, that's almost effortless, and we take it for granted," said Moore. But about 4 percent of children and close to that many adults in the United States have a good deal of trouble doing that. "We don't yet understand the neurophysiological basis of those attention deficits. But in recent years, at least some progress has been made in identifying the neural circuits that control normal attention."

His HHMI appointment, Moore said, will free him up to pursue ambitious - and higher-risk - projects along this line of research.

Karl Deisseroth

"This award will help us continue to do high-risk, high-payoff science," agreed Deisseroth, associate professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Deisseroth is developing tools to analyze the circuitry of the brain with the goal of improving the understanding and treatment of psychiatric disorders.

Recently Deisseroth's lab has developed techniques for genetically engineering different types of brain cells so that they can be controlled with pulses of light. This technique allows researchers to determine the role that each kind of cell plays in both healthy and diseased circuits. Earlier this month, for example, his lab published a paper in Science highlighting the substantial role that a particular cell type plays in augmenting or alleviating Parkinson's disease symptoms in mice.

Notification of the HHMI appointments reached the researchers in the form of a one-page letter. Chang at first viewed the letter with trepidation. "I thought it was a rejection letter," he said, only somewhat tongue-in-cheek. "I had to go in my office and shut my door so my students wouldn't see me cry." Happily, his fears were unfounded.