Stowers scientist selected for major $28.6 million national research award to train AI to predict protein changes tied to ALS, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson's

The lab of Randal Halfmann, Ph.D., alongside scientists from UC Berkeley, Brown University, and Johns Hopkins, will play a key role in advancing research on a group of proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Intrinsically disordered proteins constantly shift and change shape, making it difficult for AI to predict when they may go wrong and lead to disease. The Halfmann Lab will generate the massive amount of data that AI has long been missing: more than 10 billion measurements of protein clumping, taken one living cell at a time, across 50,000 proteins. Read the full story. 

Stowers Communications Team earns regional Emmy Award for coral storytelling 

The Stowers Institute has won a 2026 Mid-America Regional Emmy Award for Best Environment/Science Content for The Basement Reef: Coral Research in Kansas City. The video takes viewers inside the Institute’s specialized aquarium, where Investigator Matt Gibson, Ph.D., and his team are one of only a handful of labs worldwide to successfully maintain and reproduce reef-building corals. Watch the video and read the full story. 

New Gibson Lab study reveals how cells divide and reshape tissue

A new study from the lab of Investigator and Graduate School President Matt Gibson, Ph.D., offer fresh insight into fundamental cell biology. In Current Biology, researchers showed that dividing cells in a 3D tissue culture of a mouse intestine actively rearranges their neighbors to make room, shedding light on how tissues stay organized as they grow and what changes in disease. Read more. 

Ph.D. program applications for Fall 2027 are open 

Our fully funded Ph.D. program prepares students to become independent scientists through exceptional mentorship, immersive research experiences, and access to state-of-the-art technologies. Students are integral members of the Institute’s collaborative scientific community, working alongside researchers who are leaders in their fields. Apply here.   

Spend your summer in a Stowers lab: Summer Scholars applications are open

The Stowers Summer Scholars Program is now accepting applications for its eight-week research internship, running June 7–July 30, 2027. Undergraduates conduct independent research alongside Institute scientists, attend weekly seminars, and present their work at an all-Institute poster session. Scholars receive a $5,000 salary, round-trip travel, and housing. Applications are open to domestic and international students and are due January 17, 2027. Learn more and apply. 

From sea anemone to human fertility: A new research organism for understanding meiosis

Stowers Institute scientists discovered the sea anemone Nematostella uses many of the same proteins humans rely on to make eggs and sperm, offering the potential for new insights into infertility, miscarriage, and birth defects. The new research was led by Stefanie “Steffi” Williams, Ph.D., a Stowers Graduate School alum and current postdoctoral fellow at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.  Her work grew from a collaboration between the lab of Graduate School President Matt Gibson, Ph.D., and the lab of the late Stowers Investigator R. Scott Hawley, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of meiosis. Read more. 

Watch the first three episodes to explore how proteins drive aging, how biological systems break down, and how evolution created life’s most complex proteins. 

Taking big questions to new heights

Our new "What If?" banners are officially up on our building and around the neighborhood! Go behind the scenes (and up in the air!) for a unique look at how they got there. Watch the video.

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