Whitehead Member Jing-Ke Weng receives research grant from the Family Larsson-Rosenquist Foundation to examine herbs thought to boost mothers’ milk supply
June 8, 2017
Project will investigate the effectiveness and toxicity of four herbs widely used by breastfeeding women worldwide to promote human milk production
Undergraduate in Lodish lab doubly awarded for “outstanding” research
May 25, 2017
Rhogerry “Gerry” Deshycka, a graduating senior working in the lab of Whitehead Institute Founding Member Harvey Lodish, has received one of MIT’s two Randolph G. Wei Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) awards for 2017 and MIT’s 2017 John L. Asinari Award.
Growth medium based on human plasma rewires cell metabolism
April 6, 2017
Cultured human cells are the foundation for disease and drug research. Now Whitehead Institute researchers have designed a growth medium that more closely resembles the cells’ environment in the body—and demonstrated that, relative to decades-old recipes that have remained the workhorses of cell culture studies, it significantly alters the cells’ inner workings.
Whitehead Member David Sabatini awarded Foundation for the NIH Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences
April 4, 2017
Prize bestowed for discovery of the mTOR pathway’s impact on age-related diseases
Biomarker identified for likely aggressive, early stage breast cancer
April 3, 2017
Whitehead Institute scientists have identified a gene that could help clinicians discern which patients have aggressive forms of early stage breast cancer, which could prevent hundreds of thousands of women from undergoing unnecessary treatment and save millions of dollars.
Whitehead Fellow Sebastian Lourido speaks about proposed budget cuts
March 17, 2017
The budget proposed on March 15, 2017 would cut National Institutes of Health funding by an estimated 20 percent.
Cargo-carrying red blood cells alleviate autoimmune diseases in mice
March 6, 2017
Using red blood cells modified to carry disease-specific antigens, a team of scientists from Whitehead Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital have prevented and alleviated two autoimmune diseases—multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes—in early stage mouse models. This research is an exciting step toward therapeutics for autoimmune diseases, which affect an estimated 23 million Americans.
Researchers uncover a role for HSP90 in gene-environment interactions in humans
February 23, 2017
Researchers at Whitehead Institute have now uncovered a role for the protein-folding chaperone HSP90 in humans, not only as a modifier of the effects of mutations, but as a mediator of the impact of the environment on the function of mutant proteins. And these effects of HSP90 can alter the course of human diseases.
Researchers chart global genetic interaction networks in human cancer cells
February 2, 2017
Investigators at Whitehead Institute and the Broad Institute have succeeded in identifying the set of essential genes—those required for cellular proliferation and survival—in each of 14 human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines that had previously been characterized by genome sequencing. By combining their “gene essentiality map” with the existing genomic information, their study revealed liabilities in genetically defined subset of cancers that could be exploited for new therapies.
New Clues on the Basis of Parkinson’s Disease and Other “Synucleinopathies”
January 25, 2017
Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other “synucleinopathies” are known to be linked to the misfolding of alpha-synuclein protein in neurons. Less clear is how this misfolding relates to the growing number of genes implicated in PD through analysis of human genetics. Two new studies from researchers affiliated with Whitehead Institute and Massachusetts Institute of Technology explain how they used a suite of novel biological and computational methods to shed light on the question.
Sebastian Lourido appointed as a Member of Whitehead Institute and of the faculty of Massachusetts Institute of Technology
January 18, 2017
An emerging leader in investigations on deadly parasitic infections, Lourido’s appointment will further enhance one of the world’s most accomplished biomedical research institutes
Scientists engineer gene pathway to grow brain organoids with surface folding
January 3, 2017
Whitehead researchers provide insight into a specific gene pathway that appears to regulate the growth, structure, and organization of the human cortex. They also demonstrate that 3D human cerebral organoids--miniature, lab-grown versions of specific brain structures--can be effective in modeling the molecular, cellular, and anatomical processes of human brain development. And they suggest a new path for identifying the cells affected by Zika virus.