UC Berkeley biochemist Robert Tjian has been named as the new president of the Howard Hughes institute, a leading center in the world when it comes to funding health and disease research.
The nonprofit Howard Hughes organization plays a critical role in funding health and disease research around the world in the form of grants, and has an endowment fund of more than 17 billion dollars from which to draw upon.
They support up to 67 institutions, including universities operating in the US and other medical centers.
Tjian is very much involved in leading stem cell research, and is currently the director of a new center being built on his campus housing stem cell specialists.
According to a spokesman for UC Berkeley, Tjian will remain in his post as director for the time being.
Tjian will begin his role as president of the Howard Hughes institute in April of 2009.
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