Developmental science

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — When Kathleen Collins joined the lab of Whitehead Institute Member Paul Matsudaira as a graduate student in the late 1980s, she felt anything was possible. “The enthusiasm there was contagious,” says Collins, now an associate professor at the University of California at Berkeley. “You were always aware of a driving motivation to do good science. And life’s too short not to do good science.”

Since it was founded in 1982, Whitehead Institute has provided hundreds of young investigators like Collins the resources and freedom to pursue bold ideas in research. Indeed, the development of fresh scientific talent is as much a part of the Institute’s mission as is the advancement of science itself, says Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Whitehead’s vice president for research and chief operating officer. Whitehead has a reputation for paradigm-shifting research, Villa-Komaroff says, and a mandate to promote the understanding of science throughout the world. “And that extends to the training of our graduate students and postdocs,” she adds. “We want the young scientists who walk out our doors to be leaders for the future. So, we start with students who are very talented and then we try to give them the courage to do big and astonishing science.”

Whitehead fosters ambition among early career scientists by providing access to the latest technology and the opportunity to collaborate with a faculty that includes six members of the National Academy of Sciences. Maribel Rios, who completed a postdoc in the lab of Whitehead Member Rudolf Jaenisch in 2001, says the Institute’s extensive resources enabled her to embark on riskier projects than she might otherwise have undertaken.

“High-risk projects are more likely to produce sophisticated results,” says Rios, now an assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. “That increases your chances of being published in prestigious journals, which really makes you more attractive when you enter the job market.”

A unique fellowship

The development of new scientists has been part of Whitehead’s mission since its founding. Over the years, a number of formal and informal programs have emerged to nurture scientific development and create a unique learning opportunity for the next generation of scientists. One initiative developed early on is the Whitehead Fellows program, a three- to five-year program that provides an alternative to a traditional postdoc position by offering recent PhD graduates a chance to run their own lab.

Funding organizations like the National Institutes of Health don’t typically support novel research, especially when the projects are undertaken by relative unknowns. But Whitehead nurtures scientists who ask the unusual questions by providing financial and other resources through such programs as the Whitehead Fellows. Many biomedical leaders began their careers as Whitehead Fellows, including Peter Kim, who now heads Merck’s research labs, and Eric Lander, head of the recently formed Broad Institute.

Current Fellow Alan Jasanoff, whose studies of MRI applications allow him to visualize neuronal activity in single cells, says the program has accelerated his scientific maturity. “Fellows learn how to run a lab and interact with colleagues at a high level,” he says. “That’s a rare experience for most postdocs.”

Something to talk about

A key feature of scientific training at Whitehead is an emphasis on science communication. Villa-Komaroff notes that Whitehead faculty often speak to Congress and the media about controversial issues in biology, such as cloning and stem cell research. “These are people who are remarkably clear when they explain science,” she says. “We want to be sure that our graduate students and postdocs can do the same.”

Several Whitehead programs promote effective communication, she adds. For instance, postdocs engage in community outreach by speaking at area schools and in other public settings about biomedical research. And at an Institute-wide annual retreat, where all Whitehead staff gather to detail ongoing research efforts, young investigators give presentations to a broad audience that includes senior faculty. A key lesson Collins took way from the retreats she attended was that findings are best described in terms of results—not data.

“I learned that talking about results allows you to communicate the real meaning of your work in a tenth as many sentences,” she says. “That was a real eye-opener that I try to convey to my students today.”

Young scientists also help each other through a variety of loosely knit organizations and meetings. At a weekly forum, for instance, postdocs get together for discussions and peer-to-peer research presentations. These meetings are beneficial because they provide opportunities for scientists from different backgrounds to talk with each other. Multidisciplinary interactions are fundamental to science progress, Whitehead staff say.

This was the case for David Lee, who worked as a postdoc in the labs of Whitehead scientists Peter Kim and David Bartel before completing the program in 2001. It took a combination of biophysics and cell biology to understand the biology of the protein Acrp30, which has critical roles in diabetes and obesity. Lee, now an assistant professor at Tufts University, contributed his own biophysics expertise to this effort, which was centered in the lab of Whitehead Member Harvey Lodish. Two papers later, “We have uncovered an intriguing mechanism underlying Acrp30 function,” Lee says.

Administrators and scientists at Whitehead work together to grease the wheels for departing grad students and postdocs seeking new positions elsewhere. Finding an academic position can be difficult, and professional development is key. The Whitehead Postdoctoral Scholars Association was created to offer this and other types of support, says Assistant Director for Administration Margaret Sand, who works with the postdoc group. The association sponsors a number of professional development programs, including a series of career exploration seminars, where postdocs interact with industry researchers. “We want to help our postdocs see that there are alternatives to academia that can be equally rewarding,” Sand says.

For many graduate students and postdocs, the Whitehead experience is both an intellectual incubator and a launchpad for future success. The Institute’s high visibility, the intellectual breadth of its faculty and the audacious attitude toward discovery help to shape and nurture the talents that solve difficult problems in biology.

“It’s easy to find something new. It’s harder to find something important,” says Villa-Komaroff. “We try to get our young scientists to ask the right questions and then we provide the resources they need to answer them.”

This article first appeared in the winter 2004 issue of Whitehead's Discovery magazine.