Published annually, Paradigm magazine reports on Whitehead Institute research, trends in the life sciences, and happenings in the Whitehead community.

Contents of the most recent issue are shown below. To read the full issue, click on the link displayed in the right-hand column of this page.

FALL 2011

Features

Different Cultures, No Clashing: Barrier-breaking research solves a vexing genetic puzzle

An international team led by Israeli scientists ignores matters of politics, ethnicity, and religion to help a Palestinian family uncover the genetic cause of a rare neurological disorder

A Bottle of Wine, A Killer Virus, and RNA Interference: How a friendly wager led to a new understanding of yeast evolution

An inquisitive graduate student works with two of Whitehead Institute’s principal investigators to help prove that two genomic defense mechanisms cannot
peacefully coexist in budding yeasts

Upon Closer Inspection: State-of-the-art microscopy captures scientific visions

The technology housed in Whitehead’s W.M. Keck Biological Imaging Facility is nearly as impressive as the revealing glimpses it provides of life’s most
fundamental structures and processes

Research News

Two Unsuspected Proteins May Hold the Key to Creating Artificial Chromosomes

Once thought of as bit players, two proteins assume starring roles in kinetochore assembly and, by extension, cell division

Pluripotent Adult Stem Cells Power Planarian Regeneration

Whitehead researchers identify pluripotent clonogenic neoblasts as the source of the planarian flatworm’s extraordinary regenerative powers

Leucine Deprivation Proves Deadly to Malignant Melanoma Cells

Cells with a genetic mutation commonly found in the deadliest form of skin cancer struggle to survive without an essential amino acid

Novel Method Could Improve the Performance of Proteins Used Therapeutically

Technique could increase potency and slow metabolism of proteins used to treat melanoma, hepatitis C, and some leukemias

Signaling Pathways Point to Vulnerability in Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Blocking certain cell signaling could prevent breast cancer cells from acquiring the ability to migrate and seed new tumors at distant sites of the body

MicroRNAs Jumpstart Production of Obesity-fighting Brown Fat

Tiny snippets of RNA regulate the development of beneficial fat known to burn lipids and increase resistance to obesity

Community

A Member is honored, a new Fellow arrives, another Fellow departs, and the entire Whitehead scientific community retreats—with good reason