HHMI
@hhmi-science
We invest in scientists at all career stages who make discoveries that advance human health for decades to come.
Congratulations to #HHMIInvestigator Jennifer Doudna (@ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social), named a 2026 @acs.org Fellow in recognition of her outstanding achievements & contributions to science: bit.ly/4wqSXTp.
Proud to celebrate @ascbiology.bsky.social’s recognition of #HHMIInvestigator Diana Bautista with the E.E. Just Lecture Award & HHMI Janelia Group Leader Jiefu Li with the Günter Blobel Early Career Award — for research, mentorship, & leadership shaping the future of cell biology: bit.ly/4gpXJvp.
Inside a lava lamp? Nope — better. Cryo-CLEM (cryo-correlative light & electron microscopy) is an imaging technique developed by Janelia researchers & #HHMIInvestigator Eric Betzig. Orange blobs = 2 kidney cells; within, endoplasmic reticulum (green) & mitochondria (purple). 📸: Hess & Betzig
Malaria kills 600K people a year — #HHMIInvestigator Flaminia Catteruccia & team @hsph.harvard.edu are opening a new front in the fight against it w/2 compounds engineered to disrupt malaria parasites before they can be transmitted to humans. Field tests begin in Ethiopia this fall bit.ly/4wE0LBW
When zebra finches sleep, their brains keep singing — but not the song you'd expect. #FreemanHrabowski Scholar Walter Gonzalez & team found birds dream in songs they've never sung awake, offering a window into how brains learn, & potentially how conditions like schizophrenia develop: bit.ly/4geBCYF
For years the citrus mealybug was a mystery: essential genes seemed to be missing. Now #HHMIInvestigator John McCutcheon, #HannaGray Fellow Jessica Warren, & team have found them — tucked onto the mirror strand of DNA already carrying another gene. bit.ly/44sh3BH
Scientists long thought they knew what drives skin renewal — now #HHMIInvestigator Valentina Greco (@yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social) and collaborators have upended a 50-year-old assumption, and their findings could unlock new treatments for chronic wounds and aging skin: bit.ly/3SQXHU6
"We have no business applying to this," #GilliamFellow Sara Makanani told her PI. Her mentor’s reply? "We are worthy of this." // 2nd- or 3rd-year PhD student? Talk to your faculty advisor — apps open 9/1 for our BIGGEST cohort of mentee-mentor pairs yet! bit.ly/gilliam26
This radiating honeycomb is the glass skeleton of a diatom, captured via confocal microscopy from marine sediment off Namibia's coast. Invisible to the naked eye, diatoms & other phytoplankton produce 20%–50% of Earth's oxygen every year. 📷: Igor Siwanowicz, Janelia Research Campus.
#FreemanHrabowski Scholar Bianca Jones Marlin is uncovering how sensory cues like a pup’s cry activate oxytocin & reshape neural circuits, enabling caregiving — even in mice that have never given birth. Her research also suggests some experiences may be biologically inherited: bit.ly/4pjJISL
Bone grows from the inside out, and this fluorescence micrograph of a developing mouse femur reveals the choreography underneath: osteoclasts (red) clear cartilage (purple) to make room for blood vessels (yellow), marrow, and new bone. 📸 Paul R. Odgren, @umasschan.bsky.social
Discoveries can hide in plain sight. #HHMIInvestigator Steven Henikoff's lab found a surprise when revisiting their old data: a region of ribosomal DNA producing microRNAs that can be associated with cancer, revealing a new role for part of the genome overlooked for decades: bit.ly/3RQwTmy.
Our kind of fireworks: fruit fly neurons stacked in a rapid succession of rainbow colors. This video shows a small sampling of the more than 135,000 neurons in a typical fruit fly's brain, imaged by researchers at our Janelia Research Campus using multicolor flipout technique 🎆
Proud to celebrate #HHMIInvestigator Rachel Green’s (@jhu.edu) election as an Associate Member to @embo.org — a lifelong honor recognizing research excellence & outstanding achievements in the life sciences: bit.ly/4aZ3Kfs.
Misfolded tau proteins spread between cells & form toxic clumps that drive Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS & more. #HHMIInvestigator Roy Parker's team found a way to target them in real time, reducing their growth & improving brain function in mouse models: bit.ly/4aklodm.
Over a 32-year career as an #HHMIInvestigator, Connie Cepko (@harvardmed.bsky.social) helped transform how we understand the retina, and how blindness might be treated. Her advice? "If you have a novel idea you believe in, go for it." bit.ly/4gN9Zqp
These stunning single-celled organisms can shape-shift & regenerate. Their trumpet-like shape inspired their name: stentor, after the herald in Greek mythology known for his booming voice. 📸: Confocal microscopy by Igor Siwanowicz, HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus
100+ years after “Hechtian structures” were discovered, #HHMIInvestigator José Dinneny & co. have ID'd the purpose of tiny anchors that secure plant cell membranes to their walls — a finding that could help scientists improve crops' drought resistance: bit.ly/3Q7hVbh
Analyzing large datasets is one of the messiest, most complicated parts of lipid research. So #HHMIInvestigator Tobias Walther's lab @mskcancercenter.bsky.social built LipidCruncher: a free, open-source, step-by-step platform that makes results easier to reproduce & share: bit.ly/3QWca0o.
Could we reprogram the immune system to fight the effects of aging? #FreemanHrabowski Scholar Corina Amor Vegas & team engineered CAR-T cells to recognize & destroy "zombie cells" that accumulate during aging & drive inflammation, frailty, & metabolic decline: bit.ly/4xkeeQh
Northern lights < neurons firing across a mouse brain. Blue & red dots = synapses between neurons; green lines = sections of a pyramidal neuron. Captured by Boaz Mohar at our Janelia Research Campus using Z-stack scanning and lightsheet microscopy.
#HannaGray Fellow Marissa Scavuzzo grew up knowing basic biomedical science can change lives — now she studies support cells called glia. Her message to prospective HGF program applicants: "You have nothing to lose & everything to gain" (& sometimes, 2x is the charm). Opens 11/3! bit.ly/HGF26 🧪
Extraterrestrial invasion? As otherworldly as this looks, these are real organisms called desmids: microscopic, single-celled green algae found in swamps. Imaged with confocal microscopy — cell walls in blue, chloroplasts in red — by Igor Siwanowicz at our Janelia Research Campus
Serving others & caring for community are values #FreemanHrabowski Scholar Lucas Cheadle learned from his father, & they now inspire how he leads his lab @cshlnews.bsky.social. And the FHS program? "Not just about excellent science ... it's a community." Applications open 11/3! bit.ly/fhs26 🧪
Janelia is built for this moment. Starting today, we're taking on 2 big bets: cracking how a vertebrate brain generates behavior, & building AI-in-the-Loop Discovery — a new way of doing biology. Tiny transparent fish + one of neuroscience’s biggest questions? Let's go: hhmi.news/2BigBets
Celebrating #FreemanHrabowski Scholars Timothy Machado (@upenn.edu) & Kara Marshall (@bcmhouston.bsky.social ), recipients of the 2026 McKnight Scholar Award! The award recognizes exceptional early career scientists whose work is shaping the future of neuroscience: bit.ly/4xzUR5U.
#HHMIInvestigator Eric Betzig & team use a single microscope that does the work of a dozen, capturing life in 5D (3D + time + color). But the data it generates is too vast for humans to analyze alone, so they're building "a sherpa to guide us,” i.e. an AI to unlock MOSAIC's potential: bit.ly/3RN2GVj
Wheat, rice, & corn feed the world, yet we still don't fully understand their seeds' biology. #HHMIInvestigator Mary Gehring's lab has built a gene expression “map” of seed development in a plant model that could help improve crops’ ability to withstand environmental stress: bit.ly/4u1p62y.
Those tiny bumps on your tongue have a name: taste papillae, home to the taste buds behind every flavor you’ve experienced. Confocal microscopy paints a mouse's taste papillae in vivid color: pink taste buds, yellow nerves, & blue-green nuclei. 📸 Dany Gaillard & Linda Barlow, @cuanschutz.bsky.social