UC Berkeley Prof. Now Head Of Hughes Medical Institute

Boston (dbTechno) - University of California, Berkeley professor Robert Tijan has been named as the new president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute is one of the largest private funders of biomedical research in the world.

The 59-year old UC Berkeley professor will now take over as the head of the institute, starting in April 1, 2009.

He will have the roal of taking control of the organization.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute provides support to over 350 different investigators across 67 universities, as well as medical schools and such.

In terms of research support, education, and training, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute has spent $8.3 billion in just the last two decades.

It was founded back in 1953 by Howard Hughes.