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Foundations dedicate $75 million to plant research

arabidopsis.jpgA few lucky plant biologists are about to receive admittance to one of the most elite biomedical clubs in the United States: the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). HHMI and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation announced today that they have teamed up to make a $75 million contribution to the plant sciences by supporting up to 15 plant researchers.

Appointments to HHMI are highly coveted, in part because awards are granted to investigators rather than specific projects, allowing researchers some leeway in how they use the funds. Applications for the 15 slots are due 9 November, and selections will be made by May 2011. To be eligible, scientists must have run their own lab for at least four years, and must be tenured or tenure-track at an eligible US institution.

As motivation for the program, HHMI described plant biology as an underfunded field that could have tremendous impact, thereby vindicating a host of plant biologists who have been singing the same refrain for decades. Plant researchers who tackle basic biology questions often feel lost in funding limbo: their work is not applied enough to win funding from the US Department of Agriculture, and not medical enough to attract much attention from the National Institutes of Health—or, for that matter, HHMI, which currently has only three plant biology investigators.

But new funding avenues are opening as increased national attention to issues like biofuels and climate change highlights the importance of understanding our photosynthetic neighbours. A 2009 National Academy of Sciences report on the future of biology emphasized plant research, listing the need for crops that adapt to changing environments and the importance of developing alternatives to fossil fuels as two of the four key challenges facing biologists in the 21st century.

Image: USDA

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