The Stowers Institute for Medical Research opened its doors in 2000 in Kansas City with an ambitious and selfless mission — to understand how life works at its most foundational level for the betterment of humanity.
As we reach a quarter century milestone, the Institute looks toward the next 25 years of continuing and advancing curiosity-driven discovery and creative and collaborative innovation, which together are fostering hope.
#Stowers25
Stowers science has thrived and continues to do so in large part due to the generosity and vision of our founders, Jim and Virginia Stowers. Not only did they endow the majority of their fortune toward building a world-class biomedical research institution, Jim and Virginia ensured that their gift would endure far into the future. The Stowers’ created a unique funding model where more than 40% of annual dividends from American Century Investments, the global asset management firm Jim founded in 1958, directly support the Stowers Institute.
The Stowers’ extraordinary and visionary gift resonates in the spirit of the Institute, emboldening fearless science and supporting state-of-the-art technologies and the pioneering scientists leading our Investigator Labs and Technology Centers.
The Stowers Institute is dedicated to the next 25 years of discovery, innovation, and hope. In the words of our founders, “The best is yet to be.”
Stowers scientists explore fundamental processes of biology in our collective quest to uncover the secrets of life. Together, we push the boundaries of biological knowledge in areas such as development, regeneration, genetics, neuroscience, and more. Our unique funding model provides our scientists freedom — to pursue curiosity and creativity in a collaborative environment, to gain a comprehensive understanding of human health and disease, and ultimately to transform science.
At the Stowers Institute, the impossible is made possible. From the Institute’s conception, our Technology Centers were a cornerstone for providing our scientists with state-of-the-art technologies and in-house technology experts. Over the last quarter century, our core facilities have matured from providing service and instrumentation support to seamlessly integrating with our Investigator labs to help ask and answer profound biological questions.
Answers to fundamental questions of biology can be found by turning to nature. From zebrafish and fruit flies, yeast and bacteria, plants and planarian flatworms, sea anemones and coral, to mice, killifish, apple snails, and more, a broad range of research organisms reside at the Institute. Cared for by dedicated teams of technicians, each was carefully chosen based on their ability to solve specific biological questions — aiding in advancing our understanding of how life works.
To commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Stowers Institute in Kansas City, use the hashtags #Stowers25 and #StowersStories on social media. Explore what makes the Stowers Institute so unique by clicking the link below.
#Stowers25
A look back at the past 25 years of the Stowers Institute from it's earliest days to now
Curiosity-driven foundational biological research at the Stowers Institute is rooted in its potential for profound impact on human health. Our scientists ask big questions with far-reaching effects, propelling our understanding of how to alleviate, cure, or prevent disease — spanning conditions such as cancer, infertility, neurodegenerative disease, developmental disorders, aging, and more.
Training new generations of scientists is essential for the progress of science and the hope for a future where diseases can be treated and even prevented altogether. In 2012, the first class of students entered the Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, a Ph.D. program uniquely designed to enable science from the start. Just 10 years after its founding, the Stowers Graduate School earned accreditation and continues to grow into an internationally recognized center of excellence in education. Additional opportunities for education are evidenced by our acclaimed postdoctoral program — PostdocEDGE — our annual Summer Scholars Program, and our recently launched Computational Biology Scholars Program.
News
14 June 2021
Longtime Kansas Citian, Virginia Glascock Stowers—wife of the late James “Jim” E. Stowers Jr., mother of three daughters and one son, nurse, and co-founder of the research institute that bears the family name—died at her home in Kansas City, MO, on June 5, 2021. She was 91.
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News
27 May 2022
The Stowers Institute puts the focus on the work, not finding money, and has built local life sciences culture in the process.
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News
01 November 2021
At the Stowers Institute, the mission set forth by founders Jim and Virginia Stowers continues to inspire employees and shape growth.
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News
26 October 2023
By coaxing out the secrets underlying (un)ordinary biological feats of research organisms—like whole-body regeneration in the case of planarian flatworms—Stowers scientists are investigating how life works at its most fundamental level to ultimately understand human health and find treatments for diseases.
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