Basic research to thrive in atmosphere of freedom and collaboration thanks to Howard Hughes, Director Gerald Rubin and HHMI team

Howard Hughes died a figure of great brilliance and eccentricity, but his legacy may approach the classic statesmanlike proportions of Alfred Nobel if Dr. Gerald Rubin is successful in his quest to build an idealistic, productive environment for basic research at Howard Hughes Medical Institute's new Loudoun County Janelia Farm campus.

Nobel, the Swedish chemist who invented dynamite, is better known today for the Nobel Prize.

Hughes, who established his medical institute in 1953 for the benefit of humankind, is still more closely associated with his reclusive behavior late in life than with the pioneering aviation, engineering and industrialist profile he earned in his most productive years. When he gave all his stock in Hughes Aircraft Company to HHMI, the IRS accused him of tax evasion. He won that fight, and, because he did, Loudoun County may be the big winner in decades to come.

For decades after World War II, basic research provided the platform for great scientific breakthroughs at labs like AT&T's Bell Labs in New Jersey, Xerox PARC in California, and the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. The structure of DNA, techniques to produce monoclonal antibodies, the transistor, the laser and the UNIX operating system are only a few of the innovations that were born in the non-competitive atmosphere of scientific collegiality created and protected by these organizations.

Radically different from the conservative academic cultures that place individual achievement and applied research above collaboration and interdisciplinary inquiry, laboratories like Bell Labs that provide patient funding and an open, non-competitive environment began to be challenged as science became the venture capitalist's darling and the engine of Wall Street.

Janelia Farm Director Dr. Gerald Rubin intends to create a context for classic scientific collaboration that will lead to the levels of benefit for humankind Howard Hughes imagined, and Dr. Rubin believes that he has been preparing for this assignment all his life.

My Dream Job

When he welcomed the overflow audience of visitors who came to visit the Janelia campus recently for the official opening of the campus on a gray and rainy, blustery day, he described his position as "my dream job."

"Everything in my career has been preparing me for this," he said.

Rubin's many achievements, helping Dr. Craig Venter sequence the first genome, for instance, are founded on the human qualities that make up the character of this exceptional individual, the qualities that help one understand why his colleagues and mentors have such confidence in his ability to create a landmark success on the grand scale the Hughes organization has undertaken at Janelia Farm.

He grew up in a working class, second generation, immigrant family with parents who placed great value on education. His father, an electrician, completed his work for an associate's degree at age 62, and his mother, a schoolteacher, knew her younger son was brilliant even though it took until the eighth grade for Gerry to begin to move into the academic spotlight.

Although, like many brilliant scientists and innovators, he began his education as an underachiever who simply did not thrive in traditional classroom settings, he went on to study and do research at Boston Latin, MIT, Cold Spring Harbor, Cambridge, Stanford and Harvard.

"When I went into biology at MIT, the world had not yet entered the biotechnology era," Rubin said. "At that time, it was sort of like deciding to be an English literature major, no great prospects for remarkable success. But I knew biology was my passion when I was in graduate school and realized that I could compete with the best."

He studied with the great minds of biology, and he remembers them as dedicated scientists of great humility who had high ideals and a determination to work for the common good. Some were mentors of special significance.

"I worked as an intern with Ray Gesteland at Cold Spring Harbor when Nobel Laureate James D. Watson ran the lab. Ray and David Botstein who was at MIT when I was an undergraduate and now leads Princeton's Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, were both generous and supportive. Their patience and kindness mentored me in a way that shaped the scientist I am today."

Although he did not do well in classroom settings, he loved reading and discussing things in small, casual groups with colleagues from a variety of scientific disciplines.

He has a global reputation as the "ultimate" project organizer, but he is not a micromanager.

He is a brilliant geneticist who understands that the advance of technology must parallel the scientific advances in order for breakthroughs and benefit to be recognized.

He places science first and politics and personalities second, and he has a …"knack for dealing with highly creative, quirky, high-maintenance people and getting them to work together."

He is flexible.

He has always insisted on living within two miles of his work place.

He never missed dinner at home according to his wife, Lynn, and he could always slip out for an hour or two for school plays and performances.

He hopes to create a context for scientific research that supports people not projects, and, if there is to be another major paradigm shift, like the move from the physics of Isaac Newton to the physics of Albert Einstein, Rubin believes it will depend on either new evidence that explains human consciousness or answers to the question, 'what is the origin of the universe?'

Scaling Up

When Janelia Farm is running at full speed, there will be 230 resident scientists musing and thinking independently and in concert at the 680-acre campus. One hundred visiting scientists will also be working at Janelia, along with investigators and post-doctoral students from around the world.

Some Janelia scientists will study how the brain processes information, others will develop new microscopes and computer programs to better create and analyze images.

"With new technology, people can generate data much faster than the human brain can think about it. You need computers and algorithms to make sense of it all," says Rubin.

All of this intellectual activity will take place in a truly landmark glass and concrete building designed by HHMI architect Robert McGhee and internationally recognized architect Rafael Vinoly.

Terraced into the hillside to protect the view of the Potomac. The design does credit to both landscape gardener Capability Brown and architect Paoli Solari. Its open-to-the-outdoors design and spaciousness make it almost impossible to separate oneself from its beautiful, natural setting.

Howard Hughes would be justifiably proud. Even though Dr. Rubin says "…scientists are just people…," there is little question that these people is this exciting place may make discoveries that truly benefit humankind and more than meet the objectives of the founder.