New HMS Professor Nabs ‘Genius Grant’

A Harvard professor who studies mitochondria was one of 23 recipients of this year’s “genius grant,” a fellowship which awards a no-strings-attached prize of $500,000.

Vamsi K. Mootha, who will begin his assistant professorship at the medical school today, is the 39th Harvard faculty member to have won the MacArthur Fellowship.

The prestigious fellowship rewards originality, creativity, and exceptional merit in any field.

Potential candidates are nominated anonymously. Then, a selection committee makes the final recommendations to the president and board of directors of the MacArthur Foundation. No one may apply for the distinction themselves.

Mootha was surprised to find out that he had found because of the secrecy surrounding the proceedings.

“It was a complete surprise to me,” said Mootha. “I was walking in a parking lot when I received a call on my cell phone. At first, I thought it was a prank. I’m still in a bit of a daze.”

A clinical researcher with a background in a variety of fields, Mootha pioneered the application of tools of genomics and proteomics to the study of the function, physiology and pathology of mitochondria.

Mitochondria provide energy to the cell.

“What Vamsi’s talent is—and I think what identifies him as a [MacArthur Fellowship] candidate—is that he has synthesized his own education in many different areas,” said David Beier, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School (HMS).

“With all of these different backgrounds—math, medicine, genomics, physics—he’s come up with something novel.”

Mootha is also working towards discovering the genes that code for mitochondria as well as the role of the organelles in human diseases.

“When people look to how the Human Genome Project will help cure diseases, they will be looking to [Mootha],” said David Altshuler, director of the Medical and Population Genetics Program at the Harvard-MIT Broad Institute.

Mootha finished his post-doctoral fellowship at the genetics division of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and will now specialize in systems biology at his post at HMS.

“This is a wonderful recognition of an extraordinary individual,” said Eric Lander, founding director of the Broad Institute, in a press release. “Vamsi has creatively applied his diverse backgrounds in medicine, cell biology and computational science to key challenges in the study of human disease. The award is richly deserved.”

This year’s MacArthur Fellowship winners range widely, from a classical ragtime pianist who discovered a previously unknown Scott Joplin piece, to a mechanical engineer who applied the coordinated movement of biological groups to man-made machines.

Between 20 and 30 fellowships are awarded every year, although there is no limit to the number of fellowships the MacArthur Foundation can award.

The award money and the prestige that comes with it can alter the path of a recipient’s career immediately.

“The call can be life-changing, coming as it does out of the blue and offering highly creative women and men the gift of time and the unfettered opportunity to explore, create, and contribute,” said MacArthur Foundation President Jonathan F. Fanton in a press release.

—Staff writer Risheng Xu may be reached at xu4@fas.harvard.edu