ASU researcher chosen to be a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator – ASU News Now

September 23, 2021

For the first time, an Arizona State University researcher has been selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator. HHMI, a nonprofit research organization, announced today that biologistJohn McCutcheonis one of 33 scientists chosen for this prestigious position in 2021.

TheHHMI Investigator programcurrently supports over 250 researchers at more than 60 research institutions across the U.S. With the new cohort of researchers, the organization is investing an additional $300 million in the program. Each new investigator will receive roughly $9 million over a seven-year term, which is renewable pending a successful scientific review. This funding model allows HHMI researchers to focus on their science.

Being selected as an HHMI Investigator is an incredible honor. The flexibility and stability of HHMI funding is unique in American science, and it will allow my lab to pursue difficult, long-term work that is nearly impossible with traditional funding mechanisms. Its incredibly exciting, said McCutcheon, associate director of theASU Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolutionand a professor with theSchool of Life Sciences.

To truly tackle the worlds greatest challenges, researchers need to be empowered to explore, experiment and uncover truths about our world, saidSally C. Morton, executive vice president of Knowledge Enterprise at ASU. This kind of scientific freedom is both an incredible luxury and responsibility. Dr. McCutcheon is well-equipped to translate this generous opportunity into concrete progress in our understanding of nature and our place in it.

McCutcheon studies bacteria with a complicated living arrangement: They reside within the cells of sap-eating insects called mealybugs, where they provide nutrients that the insects cant make themselves or get from food. In return, the insects supply materials the bacteria cant make on their own.

He is exploring this partnership to better understand events that occurred more than a billion years ago. Back when all life was single-celled, one cell engulfed another and struck up a relationship that eventually gave rise to mitochondria internal energy plants that power organisms from yeast to humans. Millions of years later, a different cell took in a photosynthetic bacterium, eventually leading to chloroplasts an essential step in the evolution of plants and algae.

We study how bacteria infect animal cells and become near-permanent, long-term parts of these cells. Our hope is that some of this work will help us better understand how the mitochondria and chloroplasts came to be, and how they function today, said McCutcheon.

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ASU researcher chosen to be a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator - ASU News Now