Events

A Whitehead Innovation Initiative Seminar Series talk presented by Dana Pe'er, PhD, Sloan Kettering Institute, MSK.

The Whitehead Innovation Initiative is pleased to host AI: Advancing Foundational Biology on April 8, 2025. This symposium will explore how artificial intelligence and machine learning are transforming foundational biological research, featuring insights from pioneering computational biologists and AI experts. This half-day event includes talks from leaders successfully integrating AI into biological discovery, a discussion with Innovation Initiative co-founder, Michael Chambers, and a poster session that offers attendees an opportunity to engage with cutting-edge AI applications in research.

As part of the Whitehead Innovation Initiative Seminar Series, Matteo Di Bernardo, a graduate student in the Cheeseman Lab, will present on his work developing computational approaches for microscopy-based functional genomics screens. He combines scalable data processing methods with machine learning to analyze cellular mechanisms through high-throughput microscopy. His work currently focuses on morphological screens that probe fundamental cell biology processes, and he aims to apply these computational tools to more complex cellular states in development and cancer.

In this live webinar with Q&A, Whitehead Fellow Allison Hamilos will discuss how her lab is using clues from human disease to understand how our brains enable spontaneous behavior. She will demonstrate how the moment-by-moment signaling of dopamine neurons influences both our perception of time and our ability to self-generate movements. Additionally, she will explain how these new insights can help us better understand the many mysterious symptoms that arise in neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease.

Join Ruth Lehmann, Director and President of the Whitehead Institute, in conversation with Uli Stilz, Head of the Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub, as they explore groundbreaking approaches that could transform the treatment of a wide array of medical conditions and reshape the future of patient care.

In this seminar, Fatir Qureshi of the Corradin lab will present on integrating foundation models with chromatin QTL analysis to uncover distinct genetic-epigenetic associations in opioid overdose.

In this webinar, Whitehead Fellow Aditya Raguram will discuss how his lab develops biological nanoparticles that can safely and efficiently deliver therapeutic proteins into cells within the body. And he'll describe how these delivery technologies could enable new therapies for genetic disorders, cancer, and other diseases.

Despite living in an oxygen-filled world, oxygen-intolerant bacteria are abundant within us and around us: in the human microbiome, the soil, and marine environments. Whitehead Fellow Lindsey Backman will discuss her lab’s mission to determine molecular tactics that enable bacteria to cope with varying levels of oxygen and oxidative stress. And she'll explain how studying these protective mechanisms could lead to the design of new antibiotics and effective methods of engineering probiotics.

Please join us on Sept 22 as we honor Biologist, Nobelist, and California Institute of Technology President Emeritus David Baltimore, Founding Director of Whitehead, and as we recognize Mary Gehring, Whitehead Member and Inaugural Incumbent of the David Baltimore Chair in Biomedical Research.

In this webinar, Whitehead Member Mary Gehring will explore epigenetic mechanisms of information transfer from one generation of plants to the next. She will focus on the role of dna methylation and demethylation in plant growth and development. And she'll discuss the prospects for epigenetic engineering of heartier plants -- which will be key to feeding a growing global population despite climate change's negative effects on agricultural yields.

Vicki Sato, PhD, is a biologist, immunologist, and biotechnology executive with decades of experience leading teams in drug research and development. Molecules and therapeutics developed under her leadership have become critical treatments for HIV, cystic fibrosis, inflammation, multiple sclerosis, and Hepatitis C.

In this webinar, Whitehead Institute Member David Bartel will explore how microRNAs function and their role in health and disease. He'll consider questions such as: How are microRNAs created and how have they evolved? How do microRNAs bind to – and repress the function of – messenger RNA sequences (mRNA). And, what role does mRNA-repression play in normal development and in disease?

A thought-provoking discussion between Whitehead Institute Director and President Ruth Lehmann and Cori Bargmann, Torsten N. Wiesel Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Neural Circuits and Behavior, The Rockefeller University.

Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann and award-winning science writer Carl Zimmer discuss why broad science literacy is important, especially in the face of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

David Page discusses differences between XX and XY cells across the body, likely contributing to differences between males and females in the incidence, severity, and progression of diseases that collectively affect all organ systems.

Ruth Lehmann and Wellesley College President Paula Johnson discuss how to improve healthcare for women and increase opportunities for women as leaders in biomedicine and higher education.

Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido discusses his lab's latest findings on how parasites establish long-lived chronic infections in their hosts.

A conversation between Ruth Lehmann, Director, Whitehead Institute, and scientist and inventor, Robert Langer, MIT Institute Professor, on how chemical and biological engineering will impact human health.

In this talk, Rudolf Jaenisch will summarize the stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection and highlight some puzzling observations.

This webinar explains some of the non-genomic mechanisms for the transfer of maternal information to the next generation — and how that information uniquely shapes inheritance.

Whitehead Institute Members Siniša Hrvatin and Sebastian Lourido discuss the mysteries of animal hibernation.

Join Ruth Lehmann, Director, Whitehead Institute as she speaks with Jennifer Doudna, University of California, Berkeley professor and Nobel Laureate, about her role in the development of CRISPR-Cas9. They will discuss the potential applications of this world-changing genetic technology, the societal and ethical implications of gene editing as well as current research projects, collaborations, and new advances in biology.

Join Ruth Lehmann, Director, Whitehead Institute, and Jill Shah, President, Shah Family Foundation, as they discuss philanthropy as a catalyst for government innovation in the areas of nutrition, education, and economic support.

This webinar from November 30, 2021, featuring Whitehead Institute Member Robert Weinberg and moderated why Whitehead Valhalla Fellow Tobiloba Oni, focuses on the challenging question: How do cancer cells arising in one tissue learn to adapt and proliferate in tissues to which they have spread through metastasis?

A conversation featuring Ruth Lehmann and Kevin B. Churchwell, MD, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Boston Children’s Hospital and a member of the Whitehead Institute Board of Directors. 

Whitehead Institute director Ruth Lehmann spoke virtually on October 19, 2021 with Linda Henry, CEO, Boston Globe Media Partners, and Rick Berke, Co-Founder & Executive Editor, STAT, on the importance of accurate science communication.

Whitehead Institute Member Olivia Corradin and her lab are studying the genetics underlying opioid overdose. In this webinar, she describes the changes they have identified in the brain and how these changes converge on genes critical to the disorder. 

In this webinar, Whitehead Fellow Tobi Oni outlines the general principles of anti-tumor immune responses and discusses his lab's strategies to unleash an immune attack against pancreatic cancer.

The challenges presented by climate change are wide-ranging — and so must be science's response. In this Director’s Dialogue, which took place on May 4, 2021, three Whitehead Institute scientists, Jing-Ke Weng, Mary Gehring and Jonathan Weissman, speak with Institute Director Ruth Lehmann about exciting opportunities for leveraging fundamental biological research to create biotechnologies that address some of climate change's vexing effects.

In this webinar, which took place April 8, 2021, Whitehead Institute Member Yukiko Yamashita highlights ways in which fundamental research brings novel biological processes to light, and introduces her lab’s latest discoveries on the function of satellite DNA, which has long been regarded as “genomic junk.”

On March 22, Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann spoke with Moderna chairman and founder and CEO of life sciences venture capital company Flagship Pioneering Noubar Afeyan about the race to create a COVID-19 vaccine, the importance of immigrants in the US, and how to find and foster path-breaking ideas.

On February 25, 2021, Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann discussed the implications of this new age MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield, in the first installment of our new series, Director's Dialogues. Hockfield, who was the first life scientist to lead MIT, is the author of the 2019 book, “The Age of Living Machines: How Biology Will Build the Next Technology Revolution.”

In this presentation and discussion moderated by Whitehead Institute Member Pulin Li, hear what Whitehead Fellows Silvia Rouskin and Kipp Weiskopf are learning about SARS-CoV-2 — and how their research may aid in the fight against dangerous coronaviruses, now and well into the future.

In this talk from May 27, 2021, Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann talks to biomedical researcher, MIT professor, and biotech entrepreneur Sangeeta Bhatia. Bhatia leverages ‘tiny technologies’ of miniaturization to yield inventions such as human microlivers that model human drug metabolism and liver disease, as well as responsive nanoparticles and nanoporous materials that can be engineered to diagnose, study, and treat a variety of diseases, including cancer.