The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the world’s most prestigious research foundations, announced that it was honoring 28 biomedical researchers who studied in the United States and then returned to their home nations. Each will receive a five-year research grant of USD650,000. Seven ― more than any other nation ― are from China. “They’re incredibly energetic, extremely smart, highly productive and accomplished,” Robert Tjian, President of the Institute, said of the Chinese winners. The 28 are receiving the Institute’s first International Early Career Scientist awards. Dr. Tjian said China, Portugal and Spain have made unusually strong efforts to excel in biomedical research. Four of the seven Chinese winners work at China’s new National Institute of Biological Sciences, which is led by an American-educated scientist, Wang Xiaodong. The remaining three work at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics in Hubei province, and Nankai University in Tianjin. Their research disciplines range from cell genetics to cell proteins and cell mechanics; from immune systems’ behavior to the human genome.