Janelia Farm Research Campus
Encyclopedia
The Janelia Farm Research Campus is a research campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
that opened in October 2006. The campus is located in Loudoun County, Virginia
, near the town of Ashburn
. It is known for its scientific research and modern architecture.
The campus focuses on interdisciplinary research in this area, specifically addressing:
In addition to and in cooperation with the individual investigators, there are three large scale interdisciplinary projects at Janelia:
Janelia farm was designed to emulate the unconstrained and collaborative environments at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Cambridge
's Laboratory of Molecular Biology
. Researchers are on six-year contracts and fully internally funded, independent of traditional research grant funding.
Gerald M. Rubin
is the first director of Janelia Farm, and saw it from concept through construction to operation.
, the building, 270 feet (82.3 m) deep at the ground floor, is built into a hill and designed to be the primary research facility. Site and landscape design were completed by Dewberry in 2006 and include over four acres of green roof meadow plantings which blend the building into the surrounding site. Additional landscape enhancements were designed by Lewis Scully Gionet, Inc., and were completed in fall 2008 (and won an Honor Award from the Maryland and Potomac chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects). This work includes hardscape elements (an architectural water feature, expanded path network, and siting of multiple pieces of artwork, among others) and comprehensive planting additions, and was constructed by Ruppert Nurseries.
The Janelia Farm property was purchased by HHMI from the Dutch software maker Baan Companies in December 2000. The original Janelia Farm
house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Howard Hughes Medical Institute is a United States non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded by the American businessman Howard Hughes in 1953. It is one of the largest private funding organizations for biological and medical research in the United...
that opened in October 2006. The campus is located in Loudoun County, Virginia
Loudoun County, Virginia
Loudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...
, near the town of Ashburn
Ashburn, Virginia
Ashburn, Virginia is a census-designated place located in Loudoun County, Virginia, northwest of Washington, D.C., and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area...
. It is known for its scientific research and modern architecture.
Research
For many years, the main way HHMI conducted research was through supporting investigators who worked at their home institution. This is still the majority of HHMI research, with (as of 2011) more than 330 investigators at 70 institutions. However, there are interdisciplinary problems that are difficult to address in existing research settings, and Janelia Farm was built to address one of these problems, neurobiology.The campus focuses on interdisciplinary research in this area, specifically addressing:
- The identification of general principles that govern how information is processed by neuronal circuits.
- The development of imaging technologies and computational methods for image analysisImage analysisImage analysis is the extraction of meaningful information from images; mainly from digital images by means of digital image processing techniques...
.
In addition to and in cooperation with the individual investigators, there are three large scale interdisciplinary projects at Janelia:
- High-throughput characterizing of the behavioral phenotypes on genetically defined small neural lesions in Drosophila.
- Two projects aimed at developing both large-scale neuroanatomical data for Drosophila (at the light and electron microscopy levels) as well as accelerating the technology so that even larger anatomical projects can be approached in the future.
Janelia farm was designed to emulate the unconstrained and collaborative environments at AT&T Bell Laboratories and Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
's Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The Laboratory of Molecular Biology is a research institute in Cambridge, England, which was at the forefront of the revolution in molecular biology which occurred in the 1950–60s, since then it remains a major medical research laboratory with a much broader focus.-Early beginnings: 1947-61:Max...
. Researchers are on six-year contracts and fully internally funded, independent of traditional research grant funding.
Gerald M. Rubin
Gerald M. Rubin
Gerald M. Rubin is an American biologist, notable for pioneering the use of transposable P elements in genetics, and for leading the public project to sequence the Drosophila melanogaster genome. Related to his genomics work, Rubin's lab is notable for development of genomics tools and...
is the first director of Janelia Farm, and saw it from concept through construction to operation.
Conferences and public lectures
Janelia Farm hosts a series of specialist conferences each spring and fall. These are normally on topics related to its primary research mission, neurobiology, although there are some conferences on more general topics such as science education. Janelia also hosts a series of public lectures, for a non-specialist audience, called "Dialogues of Discovery".Campus
The 689 acres (2.8 km²) campus features a 900-foot (270 m) long, arc-shaped laboratory known as the Landscape Building. Designed by Rafael ViñolyRafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly is an Uruguayan architect living in the United States.-Biography:He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto, and Maria Beceiro ....
, the building, 270 feet (82.3 m) deep at the ground floor, is built into a hill and designed to be the primary research facility. Site and landscape design were completed by Dewberry in 2006 and include over four acres of green roof meadow plantings which blend the building into the surrounding site. Additional landscape enhancements were designed by Lewis Scully Gionet, Inc., and were completed in fall 2008 (and won an Honor Award from the Maryland and Potomac chapters of the American Society of Landscape Architects). This work includes hardscape elements (an architectural water feature, expanded path network, and siting of multiple pieces of artwork, among others) and comprehensive planting additions, and was constructed by Ruppert Nurseries.
The Janelia Farm property was purchased by HHMI from the Dutch software maker Baan Companies in December 2000. The original Janelia Farm
Janelia
Janelia, or Janelia Farm, is a mansion and former farm near Ashburn, Virginia, built in 1936 for Vinton L. Pickens and her husband Robert. The farm property has become the Janelia Farm Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which surrounds the house.-Property:The property was...
house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Literature
- Gerald M. Rubin: Establishing a new Research Institute: The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus. in: Perspectives of Research - Identification and Implementation of Research Topics by Organiziations - Ringberg-Symposium 2006 (Max-Planck-Forum 7) Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Hrsg.), München 2007, ISSN 1438-8715