Dr. Pourquié, one of 43 researchers selected from among more than 300 nominees, is the Stowers Institute’s first HHMI appointment. HHMI investigators direct research laboratories on the campuses of universities and other research organizations throughout the United States. Two scientists holding HHMI appointments, Drs. Joan Conaway and Jerry Workman, were recruited to the Stowers Institute earlier, but it was not possible to transfer their HHMI appointments.

     “I am honored by this appointment,” said Dr. Pourquié, who joined the Stowers Institute in 2002. “I have great respect for the work of HHMI investigators, and I look forward to joining their efforts to advance biomedical research.”

     HHMI aims to identify researchers who have the potential to make significant contributions to science. Since the early 1990s, investigators have been selected through rigorous national competitions. Once selected, they continue to be based at their institutions, typically leading a research group of 10-25 students, postdoctoral associates and technicians, but become HHMI employees and are supported by field staff throughout the country.

     Dr. Pourquié has consistently and significantly contributed to the advancement of his field — the study of the segmentation clock in the presomitic mesoderm and the molecular signals regulating vertebrate segmentation.

     In addition to a long list of publications in leading peer-reviewed journals such as Science and Nature, Dr. Pourquié was credited with one of 24 notable discoveries in developmental biology over the past 100 years by the editors of the Nature Publishing Group.

     “All of us at the Stowers Institute are pleased that Dr. Pourquié was successful in the national competition for an appointment with HHMI,” said Bill Neaves, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Stowers Institute. “The HHMI selection process has become the gold standard for highest quality biomedical research, and this latest recognition of Olivier’s work brings satisfaction to him and his colleagues. It also demonstrates the success Jim and Virginia Stowers have achieved in creating an environment that enables the best scientists to do their best work.”

     “Dr. Pourquié’s outstanding accomplishments at the University of Marseille motivated us to recruit him to the Stowers Institute,” said Robb Krumlauf, Ph.D., Scientific Director of the Stowers Institute, “and since joining us here in Kansas City nearly three years ago, he has continued to make groundbreaking discoveries. With additional support from HHMI, the Pourquié lab is poised to advance the field of somitogenesis even more rapidly.”

About HHMI
     The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is dedicated to discovering and disseminating new knowledge in the basic life sciences. HHMI grounds its research programs on the conviction that scientists of exceptional talent and imagination will make fundamental contributions of lasting scientific value and benefit to mankind when given the resources, time, and freedom to pursue challenging questions. The Institute prizes intellectual daring and seeks to preserve the autonomy of its scientists as they pursue their research.

     A nonprofit medical research organization, HHMI was established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist. The Institute, headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland, is one of the largest philanthropies in the world with an endowment of $12.8 billion at the close of its 2004 fiscal year. HHMI spent $573 million in support of biomedical research and $80 million for support of a variety of science education and other grants programs in fiscal 2004. For more information about HHMI visit www.hhmi.org.

About the Stowers Institute
     Housed in a 600,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility on a 10-acre campus in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri, the Stowers Institute for Medical Research conducts basic research on fundamental processes of cellular life. Through its commitment to collaborative research and the use of cutting-edge technology, the Institute seeks more effective means of preventing and curing disease. The Institute was founded by Jim and Virginia Stowers, two cancer survivors who have endowed it with more than $2 billion in support of basic research of the highest quality. Additional information about Dr. Pourquié’s research program may be found at http://www.stowers-institute.org/labs/PourquieLab.asp. Photos available upon request.