The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation have announced the first cohort of researchers chosen to participate in a five-year, $75 million plant science initiative.

The fifteen scientists, representing thirteen U.S. institutions, are studying plants such as wheat, maize, tomato, Arabidopsis, moss, and algae to answer such questions as, How can photosynthesis be made more efficient? How can plants be efficiently propagated without seeds? What mechanisms do plants use to sense temperature and day length? And how do they use that information to decide when to flower?

Each HHMI-GMBF investigator will receive an initial five-year appointment to HHMI and the support necessary to move their research in creative, new directions. Their appointment may be renewed for additional five-year terms, each contingent on a successful scientific review. When their appointments begin in September, the investigators will receive their full salary and benefits from HHMI, while research support will be provided by HHMI and GMBF.

"These investigators will acquire new knowledge about — and possibly find innovative solutions to — some of the most pressing challenges in plant sciences," said Vicki L. Chandler, GBMF's chief program officer for science. "GBMF and HHMI believe the research will generate high-impact discoveries with implications for a range of intertwined concerns facing society: food production, human health, protection of the environment, and identification of renewable energy resources."