Howard Hughes Medical Institute pilot program funds people and a few projects

If you are not aware of how much leading research comes from the facility, check back on a few posts I have done in the past, the HHMI makes a lot of research possible without the red tape and strings that perhaps come along with grants and restrictions from other investors.

With the slowing of our economy donations and research from the institute for cures and treatment of disease will play even a more important role with healthcare. The related reading section has a couple video links done by 60 minutes that does a great job in detailing what the facility is doing now and what the future R and D looks like, including some interviews with scientist currently working there. This is a nice outreach to go beyond the normal funding and grant process especially when it is needed the most. BD

In an expansion of its mantra "people, not projects," the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for the first time is funding small groups of scientific collaborators working on specific ideas that reach beyond their primary research focus. The biomedical research philanthropy today announced $40 million in grants over four years to eight groups led by HHMI investigators, including two from Harvard University and one from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. The Collaborative Innovation Awards, which range from $700,000 to $1.4 million per year, make up a pilot program intended to spur innovation in a time of tighter federal funding for research. Typically HHMI supports scientists who become Howard Hughes investigators while continuing to work at their own institutions.