News Release

By LESLIE H. LANG
UNC School of Medicine

CHAPEL HILL -- The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has selected Dr. Yi Zhang, associate professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine, as one of its new investigators.

Zhang was tapped by the medical institute today (March 21), along with 42 other promising biomedical scientists nationwide. The group includes Dr. Michael D. Ehlers, associate professor of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center.

A member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Zhang is the university’s first biomedical scientist to achieve the prestigious designation, which carries with it a significant research budget.

Among his awards are the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research’s Kimmel Scholar Award (2001-2002) and the American Association for Cancer Research’s 2003 Gertrude B. Elion Cancer Research Award.

Zhang, who joined UNC’s School of Medicine faculty and UNC Lineberger in 1999, has been a leader in defining biochemical modifications to the core histone proteins that form the scaffold on which DNA is packaged, their influence on which genes are switched on and off, and the enzymes responsible for these modifications.

"To fully appreciate Yi’s scholarship, it is necessary to recognize that he is attacking one of the great remaining challenges in biology, which is to understand how different cells in the body can vary so

dramatically in structure, function and molecular characteristics, given that they all contain the same genetic material," said Dr. David C. Lee, professor and chairman of biochemistry and biophysics.

The 43 investigators were chosen from a nationwide competition that began in 2004 when the institute asked approximately 200 universities, medical schools and institutes to nominate candidates who demonstrated exceptional promise within four to 10 years of their becoming independent investigators. More than 300 individuals were nominated.

"These scientists are on the rapidly rising slope of their careers and have made surprising discoveries in a short period of time," said Dr. Thomas R. Cech, HHMI president. "We want and expect them to be daring. We have every reason to believe that they will use their creativity to extend the boundaries of scientific knowledge for many years to come."

The selection of new investigators means the institute will invest more than $300 million in additional biomedical research support during the next seven years. The institute’s current annual research budget is $416 million.

A nonprofit medical research organization, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute was established in 1953 by the aviator-industrialist Howard Hughes.

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Note: Contact Zhang at (919) 843-8225 (office), (919) 843-8227/-8228 (laboratory) or yi_zhang@med.unc.edu

Photo note: A photo of Zhang is available by clicking on http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/faculty/zhang_yi.JPG

School of Medicine contact: Les Lang, (919) 843-9687 or llang@med.unc.edu
News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu