The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) headquarters in Chevy Chase, Maryland, served as the conference site for 127 of the 131 HHMI grant award recipient scientists attending the 2000 Meeting of International Research Scholars from June 20-23, 2000. Because the gathering marked the first time that all of the HHMI international research scholars met in one location (previous regional meetings have been in Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Moscow, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro), a broad spectrum of issues were explored, including funding dynamics connected with scientific research abroad.

The institute's new president, Thomas Cech, delivered the keynote address, referring to the importance of international scientific collaboration when he said, "Science does not belong to any one nation. We all as nations participate in science."

Perhaps the most noteworthy discussion at the conference occurred when scientists in the audience were allowed to respond to talks by leaders of scientific institutions and organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

A scientist from Kiev, for example, expressed a concern that many other visiting scientists in the audience appeared to share. He asked the White House Office of Science and Technology associate director for science, Arthur Bienenstock, to spell out how the United States intends to address the need for additional funding in foreign countries due to the occurrence of "brain drain" - the emigration of foreign scientists to the United States - and subsequent void in the researchers' native countries.

Bienenstock responded by saying the contribution of scientist immigrants was "quite appreciable," but that the United States has a strong history of immigration into this country, in any case. He also said, "Whether the United States is prepared to systematically encourage the development of scientists through aid outside the United States is not a question that I'm prepared to answer right now."

Panel member Gerald T. Keusch, director of NIH's John E. Fogarty International Center's venerable research program, added that reentry money has been allocated in some NIH grants so that returning scientists can continue their research back home.

HHMI has been a leader in supporting biomedical scientists conducting research in their home countries. Since the International Research Scholars Program began in 1991, the institute has awarded $53 million in five-year grants. To date, the institute has awarded more than $68 million to 219 scientists in 31 countries. In some of these countries, a portion of the award is shared with the Scholar's department to enhance the research resources of the academic institution. HHMI also conducts its own program of medical research in five broad areas: cell biology, genetics, immunology, neuroscience, and structural biology. In addition to training graduate and postgraduate students, the institute employs more than 350 independent investigators, based at more than 70 locations throughout the United States.

Alluding to this support, a visiting scientist from Prague mentioned at the science policy session that, "Five years ago this program allowed me to continue my research in Prague. Otherwise, I would probably be just another postdoc looking for a job in the U.S." Evidence also suggests that HHMI grants have provided higher visibility for biomedical research and helped build support for such research among policy makers in the scholars' home countries, while drawing the support of international grantsmaking organizations.

That's not to say foreign scientists have always immediately accepted the value of an HHMI grant. "Initially, people were skeptical about these grants," said a Baltic scientist. "At first, it didn't look like a lot of money," she continued, perhaps speaking for other researchers who already had a funding reference point when serving as postdocs in the United States. Such scientists then learned that receiving such a grant leads to greater visibility, advances the publication of papers, and teaches how to apply for additional grants.

Among the 126 presentations - many of which involved cross-cultural collaborations among scientists - one, focusing on Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, provided further evidence for the evolution of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene and its role in the development of different roles of dementia. The lead researcher, Evgeny I. Rogaev, representing the Russian Academy of Medical Science's Research Center of Mental Health, suggested that the APOE genotype might be considered as an age-related checkpoint for dementia pathology, to which other genetic and environmental factors also predispose.

Discussing human metabolism and the reasons why some people are overweight and others remain thin, Jan Kopecky of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic's Institute of Physiology said his studies on mice indicate mitochondrial uncoupling is probably an important reason for fat accumulation because normal white fat contains a protein that is the homologue of a brown fat specific protein. In other words, Kopecky indicated that a biological "short-circuit" of sorts occurs in thin people, allowing them to burn off more calories than obese people.

Mexican neurobiologist Carmen Clapp's research dealing with the effects of prolactins and how they can act as potent inhibitors of angiogenesis was a prime example of how scientists in some foreign countries can do research that wouldn't be funded in the United States. Her studies at the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Neurobiology Center suggest that prolactin (the hormone originally associated with milk secretion) acts as a natural suppressor of blood vessel growth in the eye. Progress was made by obtaining tissue from infants undergoing interocular surgery because of blindness - a procedure that would not be eligible for funding in the United States. In turn, premature babies may benefit from these findings because blindness in babies is a common risk in Third World countries where phototherapy is not employed as routinely as it is in more developed countries such as the United States.

Collaborative science research efforts - such as those funded by HHMI - offer exciting prospects for continued advancements. Cech, alluding to these benefits, believes the scientific community's research efforts represent a virtuous movement that serves as a important microcosm within the larger phenomenon of worldwide technological progress and globalization.