“They are the people who, ten years from now, we expect to be the scientific leaders of their countries” Robert Tijan, President of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a major philanthropic institution worldwide in the field of biomedical sciences. It supports research of diseases such as AIDS and cancer and funds the work of several Nobel Prize laureates.

This year, of the 780 applications received for the grant awarded by this Institute, 28 projects were selected. All five national applications were accepted. The HHMI has selected the projects presented by scientists Karina Xavier and Miguel Godinho Ferreira, of the Gulbenkian Science Institute, Luisa Figueiredo, of the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), Rui Costa, of the Neurosciences Programme of the Champalimaud Foundation, and Pedro Carvalho, who is working at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. An American researcher working in the Neurosciences Programme of the Champalimaud Foundation has also been selected. These scientists will receive a grant totalling 513 thousand Euros, spread over four years.

In 2012 they will receive 115 thousand Euros for equipment and other investments, in addition to a sum allocated to the host institution.
Luisa Figueiredo, Director of the Parasite Molecular Genetics Unit of IMM has a BSc. Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Porto and is studying the modification of surface proteins of parasites, which allows them not to be detected.

All assigned prizes can be found here.

Editorial Team
news@fm.ul.pt