Howard Hughes Medical Institute Wins 2024 Nobel in Chemistry

The great philanthropy of Howard Hughes lives on!

Unfortunately, the HHMI has engaged in and supports DEI! What would their original donor Howard Hughes think about that? To use a German expression translated in English: Ungratefulness is the reward of the world! (Undank ist der Welten Lohn)

HHMI's David Baker Wins 2024 Nobel in Chemistry "Baker, of the University of Washington School of Medicine, was among three scientists honored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his work on computational protein design. He shares the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind for protein structure prediction."

David Baker, investigator at HHMI

HHMI Awards 50 New Gilliam Fellowships to Advance Equity and Inclusion in Science. Really!

The famous Howard Hughes is probably wildly spinning in his grave! What a betrayal of his legacy!

HHMI Awards 50 New Gilliam Fellowships to Advance Equity and Inclusion in Science | HHMI

Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Investigator Carolyn Bertozzi Awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Congratulations!

The legacy of Howard Hughes lives on!

HHMI Investigator Carolyn Bertozzi Awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry | HHMI The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced today that HHMI Investigator Carolyn Bertozzi of Stanford University, Morten Meldal of University of Copenhagen, and K. Barry Sharpless of Scripps Research Institute are the recipients of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute to Award More than $1 Billion to Promote Equity in Research Nonsense

Is this not a violation of the original donor's intent? Howard Hughes is probably spinning in his grave!

This obsession with race, diversity, and ethnic background in science is extremely annoying and disturbing!

"The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has announced a nearly $1.3 billion program for early-career scientists in an effort to increase diversity in the scientific workforce.

“For academic science to thrive in an increasingly diverse world, we need to attract and support scientists from a wide variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds,” says HHMI president Erin O’Shea ..."

HHMI to Award More than $1 Billion to Promote Equity in Research | The Scientist Magazine®

Study can't confirm/reproduce lab results for about 50% of cancer experiments

Very concerning!

Can we expect similar devastating results for other areas of medicine? How about SARS-CoV-2/Covid-19?

The wild west of science! Scientists are all too human!

"Eight years ago, a team of researchers launched a project to carefully repeat early but influential lab experiments in cancer research.

They recreated 50 experiments, the type of preliminary research with mice and test tubes that sets the stage for new cancer drugs. The results reported Tuesday: About half the scientific claims didn’t hold up. ...

For the project, the researchers tried to repeat experiments from cancer biology papers published from 2010 to 2012 in major journals such as Cell, Science and Nature.

Overall, 54% of the original findings failed to measure up to statistical criteria set ahead of time by the Reproducibility Project, according to the team’s study published online Tuesday by eLife. The nonprofit eLife receives funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute ...

Often, they couldn’t get help from the scientists who did the original work when they had questions about which strain of mice to use or where to find specially engineered tumor cells.

... it is concerning that about a third of scientists were not helpful, and, in some cases, were beyond not helpful,” ..."

Study can't confirm lab results for many cancer experiments | AP News

Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology

Investigating the replicability of preclinical cancer biology (open access, it is not clear whether this study was peer reviewed)

Howard Hughes Medical Institute devotes $2 billion to boost diversity in biomedical sciences

What an abuse of donor intent! What a waste of research money! Howard Hughes is most likely wildly spinning in his grave!

This is not the first time that the HHMI is doing that. I blogged here about it.

For such an ideological abuse, the HHMI should loose any of its tax preferential treatment instantly!

Millionaires and billionaires need stronger safeguards to prevent their fortunes to be misused after their death!

"Saying bold steps are needed to improve racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in science, the influential Howard Hughes Medical Institute on Thursday announced a $2 billion plan to accelerate inclusion and equity efforts throughout the academic science pipeline, from supporting community college students to adding 200 biomedical science professors from underrepresented groups to the nation’s colleges and universities. ..."

HHMI devotes $2 billion to boost diversity in biomedical sciences - STAT

Howard Hughes Medical Insitute: Commits $30 Million to Increase Diversity in Science

What would have Howard Hughes said about this? Is this another example of a violation of original donor intent?

"... As of 2021, HHMI has committed more than $105 million to increasing academic faculty diversity through the Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program .."

HHMI Commits $30 Million to Increase Diversity in Science with 21 Hanna Gray Fellows | HHMI.org HHMI announces the selection of 21 exceptional early career scientists as 2020 Hanna Gray Fellows to support diversity in biomedical research.