Genetics + Genomics

Researchers at Whitehead Institute have discovered the master regulator necessary for the pervasive parasite Toxoplasma gondii to chronically infect its host. This finding provides important insights into the parasite’s biology and allows scientists in the laboratory to control if and when the parasite can differentiate into its chronic stage, which may inform research into prevention and treatment of infection.

Benjamin Sabari was a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Richard (Rick) Young’s lab investigating how the molecules involved in gene regulation organize into large collective assemblies called condensates. As of January 2020, Sabari is running his own lab at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. We sat down with Sabari to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Whitehead Institute researchers have rewritten the timeline for when and how embryonic cells commit to becoming sex cells, the cells that produce eggs and sperm, and gained insights into the development of testicular cancer.

Whitehead Institute researchers have discovered that particular signaling pathways, which transmit environmental cues and effect changes in gene expression, rely on phase-separated condensates to find, occupy, and activate the right genes in each cell type