The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has announced that Taekjip Ha, associate professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as one of 43 of the nation's most promising biomedical scientists as new HHMI investigators. The 32 men and 11 women are drawn from 31 institutions nationwide, representing traditional biomedical research disciplines, as well as engineering, physics, chemistry, and computer science.
"This is a highly competitive and highly prestigious award that will provide substantial funding over a long term for Taekjip's research program," stated Jeremiah Sullivan, head of the Department of Physics at Illinois. "It will also enable him to expand his research program in new directions."
By many accounts, physics is going to drive many of the breakthroughs in molecular biology during the next 20 years and beyond. Likely to lead that push is Taekjip Ha, who is developing novel physical methods to tag and manipulate single molecules to evaluate their behavior and interactions.
"Taekjip is what we, in physics, call an 'experimental biological physicist'," Sullivan added. "He is one of several members of our department doing research in biological physics, and we value that highly, as it is an area of importance in all leading physics departments."
"This is a great honor for me and for my young research group," Professor Ha responded. "We have made concerted efforts to make an impact in biology using the new physical tools we developed, and this selection, to me, is a strong endorsement that we are moving in the right direction."
In his research, Ha uses physical techniques to study the mechanism of helicases, DNA-unwinding enzymes that crawl along the DNA helix, separating the double strands as they go. Helicases are important in many genetic processes; when they malfunction, genetic diseases or cancer may follow.
Ha is a pioneer in using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), a relatively new technique, which relies on transferring energy between "donor" and "acceptor" fluorescent tags on different parts of a molecule to reveal stunning details about the conformational changes molecules undergo during biological processes. Ha's FRET studies have revealed new information about how a helicase moves along a DNA molecule as it unwinds the strands.
In addition to exploring fundamental questions about biological systems, Ha has brought his tools to bear on the problems of human disease. He uses FRET and other new tools to study malfunctioning helicases in human genetic disease. He has also studied the role helicases play in the large protein complexes that regulate chromatin remodeling, a process that regulates gene expression by controlling access to DNA in genes.
Ha also uses FRET to study how RNA enzymes called ribozymes fold from a string-like conformation into the globular shape that enables them to function. Ribozymes are believed to have evolved before the protein enzymes that are now considered the workhorse catalytic molecules of cells.
Using other single-molecule fluorescence techniques in combination with advanced microscopes and manipulation techniques, Ha studies how malfunctions occur in chromosome separation during meiosis, the process that produces sperm and eggs. Such breakdowns are a major cause of birth defects and the leading cause of miscarriages.
HHMI chose the 43 scientists through a nationwide competition that began in 2004 when the Institute asked approximately 200 universities, medical schools, and institutes to nominate candidates who demonstrated exceptional promise within four to ten years of their becoming independent scientists. More than 300 individuals were nominated.
"We are committed to providing these scientists--and the nearly 300 scientists who are already part of HHMI--with the freedom and flexibility they need in order to make lasting contributions to mankind," said Thomas R. Cech, HHMI's president. The subjects of interest to these scientists encompass the cellular and molecular components of neural circuits; infectious diseases and the agents that cause them; blood vessel formation; the activity of single molecules and the implications for human disease; and the role of prehistoric bacteria in shaping the environment.
David A. Clayton, vice president and chief scientific officer of the Institute, said the new competition allows HHMI to respond to new areas of scientific interest and emerging fields.
"The scientists we identified through this competition are impossible to pigeonhole into traditional categories--and that is good news for HHMI and for the future of research in the life sciences," said Clayton. "By my estimation, about 20 percent of them are drawn from the physical sciences, including chemistry and physics. And while nearly a quarter of these researchers are in the burgeoning field of neuroscience, it's fair to say that we expect the impact of their work to be felt across the full spectrum of biological research."
Cech said the selection of the new investigators means that HHMI will invest more than $300 million in additional support for biomedical research over the next seven years. The Institute's current annual research budget is $416 million.
According to Ha, "This award will provide ample resources to pursue new directions aggressively and to ask deeper questions that may take many years to answer," he stated. "One of my scientific mentors told me to 'spend the money wisely.' I am planning to follow his advice whole-heartedly, both the 'spend' part and the 'wisely' part."
Through its flagship investigator program, HHMI currently employs 298 of the nation's most innovative scientists, who lead Hughes laboratories at 64 institutions. These scientists are widely recognized for their creativity and productivity--more than 100 are members of the National Academy of Sciences and 10 have been honored with the Nobel Prize. Pioneering work recognized by the Nobel has shed light on the organization of the olfactory system; the structure and function of cellular channels critical to the heart and other muscles; the identification of genes regulating organ development and programmed cell death; and processes fundamental to learning and memory.
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About HHMI - The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is dedicated to discovering and disseminating new knowledge in the basic life sciences. HHMI grounds its research programs on the conviction that scientists of exceptional talent and imagination will make fundamental contributions of lasting scientific value and benefit to mankind when given the resources, time, and freedom to pursue challenging questions. The Institute prizes intellectual daring and seeks to preserve the autonomy of its scientists as they pursue their research. A nonprofit medical research organization, HHMI was established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist. The Institute, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, is one of the largest philanthropies in the world with an endowment of $12.8 billion at the close of its 2004 fiscal year. HHMI spent $573 million in support of biomedical research and $80 million for support of a variety of science education and other grants programs in fiscal 2004.
About Professor Ha - Taekjip Ha received a BS in physics from Seoul National University in Korea and an MA and PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to joining the physics' faculty at Illinois in August 2000, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (1997) and a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Physics at Stanford University (1998-2000). He has previously been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, a Searle Scholars Award, and a Cottrell Scholars Award and a Research Innovation Award from the Research Corporation. He also received the Fluorescence Young Investigator Award of the Biophysical Society.
Professor Ha has achieved many "firsts" in experimental biological physics--the first detection of dipole-dipole interaction (fluorescence resonance energy transfer, or FRET) between two single molecules; the first observation of "quantum jumps" of single molecules at room temperature; the first detection of the rotation of single molecules; and the first detection of enzyme conformational changes via single-molecule FRET. His most recent work--using single-molecule measurements to understand protein-DNA interactions and enzyme dynamics--has led him to develop novel optical techniques, fluid-handling systems, and surface preparations.
For additional information, contact:
Professor Taekjip Ha, Department of Physics, 217/265-0717, tjha@uiuc.edu.
Jennifer L. Michalowski, media relations specialist, The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 301/215-8576, michalow@hhmi.org.