What are some of the key discoveries made by HHMI investigators?
HHMI scientists have made many significant discoveries that have transformed our understanding of basic biological systems by working directly on human problems, as well as in model organisms such as worms, flies, and mice. Notably: • Mario R. Capecchi at the University of Utah, in what turned out to be a risk well taken, ultimately found that by systematically knocking out genes in a family called Hox, he could produce mice with dramatic developmental defects. http://www.hhmi.org/research/investigators/capecchi_bio.html • Thomas A. Steitz’s patience in the lab paid off when he and his team published the critical structure of the ribosome in 2000. The landmark findings took up 25 pages in the journal Science—a bountiful scientific harvest. http://www.hhmi.org/news/steitz.html • Huda Y. Zoghbi saw her first patient with Rett syndrome nearly 20 years ago. It took 14 years of trying before a colleague in her lab at the Baylor College of Medicine identified the gene responsible for most Re
