Robert Tjian, a distinguished UC Berkley biochemist and gene researcher, has been named president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (NHMI), the largest private funder of biomedical research in the United States. In April, Tjian will replace Thomas Cech. Cech will return to the University of Colorado, Boulder. Thomas Cech, a Nobel Prize winner, has been president of the institute since January 2000.

Tjian has been a leader in molecular biology research field; his work focused on the process of transcription, by which genetic information is read from DNA and turned into proteins that either support or disrupt normal biological function. It is a crucial element in cell growth. Knowing how cells “read” the DNA of their genes to create the proteins that keep humans alive will eventually open the way to a better understanding of genetic diseases and to more effective treatments.

Tjian, 59, has been an NHMI investigator since 1987. He joined the Berkley faculty in 1076 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory.  Over the past two decades, HHMI has made investments of more than $8.3 billion for the support, training, and education of the nation's most creative and promising scientists. The nonprofit organization supports basic researchers and pioneering education projects in the life sciences at 67 American universities and other institutions - including Bay Area medical centers at UCSF, Stanford and UC Davis as well as at Berkeley.

In addition to being a UC Berkeley professor and researcher, Tjian is the director of the Berkeley Stem Cell Center. He will remain director of a new center that is built on the campus for a team of stem cell specialists who use stem cell research as a tool to study tissue differentiation and the molecular basis of diseases, such as neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, diabetes, muscular atrophy. More recently, Tjian has begun studying how transcription factors control the differentiation of embryonic stem cells into muscle, liver, and neurons.

The Hong Kong biochemist  is “an outstanding scientist, he’s an excellent mentor to students and postdoctoral fellows, he’s interested in education, he has a reputation for being very organized, and he has a broad view of biology and medicine,” says HHMI board of trustees member Joseph Goldstein, who has known Tjian for more than 20 years.

The nonprofit Howard Hughes organization was founded in 1953 and its name came from its founder.

Tjian was named California Scientist of the Year in 1994 by the California Science Center. He also co-founded Tularik, a biotech company that was sold to Amgen in 2004 for $1.3 billion.

Tjian will assume his new role on April 1, 2009, the NHMI wrote on its Web site.

“This is the most interesting job for a scientist in the nation – because of its impact on research in the life sciences,” Tjian said, according to the same source. After more than 20 years of conducting investigative research at UC Berkley, Professor Robert Tjian says he feels a sense of responsibility and the new mission is “a great opportunity to give back and a huge honour to be asked.”