With its binding, heavy paper stock and graphics worthy of a New Yorker cover, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Bulletin is the spoiled rich kid of research PR publications. Since Boston is teeming with HHMI researchers, the November issue offer reports on a few of them.

For the uninitiated, HHMI – which until recently was more a fund than an institute-offers private grants to researchers engaged in basic science – discovery for the sake of knowledge. In the struggle for funding, basic science often loses out to applied science – research aimed at finding a new drug, device or diagnostic tool.

But, as the latest edition of the HHMI Bulletin suggests, the old cliché has some truth in it – basic research produces the building blocks of applied science. Thank the Aviator.

Stories in the publication include a story on antibiotic resistance at research at BU, research out of Harvard on the genetics of mom v. dad.

The genes you inherited from your mom and those passed along from your dad don’t have equal footing when it comes to how they influence your biology. Research from a team of HHMI-supported scientists suggests that, throughout an individual’s lifetime, the effect of maternal and paternal genes ebbs and flows in an intricate way.

The interdisciplinary team of scientists—led by HHMI investigator Catherine Dulac of Harvard University, and funded by an HHMI Collaborative Innovation Award—set out to find genes in the mouse brain that had only one activated copy. While mammals have two copies of almost all genes, chemical marks on one of the copies can result in only one being activated.

Also, a story on research into fusion genes talks about how researchers, including those at Mass General, were able to use the findings to make progress on potential targeted cancer treatments.

The story make note of the the limitations of the experimental drugs, but for a lot more detail, see the recent NYTimes story on the same topic. And, while you are at it, note that MGH is already marketing the treatments, even though some are still in clinical trials.