Eric Smith is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Iain Cheeseman’s lab studying proteins involved in cancer. We sat down with Eric to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.
How do cells decide how long to pause division after they detect errors? Whitehead Institute Member Iain Cheeseman and colleagues identified that the key player is a previously undiscovered protein that was hiding in plain sight. Read more and also check out our Behind the Science podcast looking at the unexpected nature of this discovery.
Much of biology is defined by activity: the rapid growth of an embryo, or the adventurous life cycle of a parasite, or the frenzied evolution of cancer cells. But for two Whitehead Institute researchers, there is much to learn by studying periods of rest.
Learn about a molecule that can take the place of oxygen in the electron transport chain; a key protein that helps sea star embryos establish polarity early in development; and a new approach to cataloguing cells' many DNA repair mechanisms. Our latest research highlights video features work from the labs of Iain Cheeseman and Jonathan Weissman.
If we imagine the cell as an orchestra, with many musicians who each have a small part to play, then what conducts all of these musicians and keeps them organized and harmonized as they play a symphony?
In this special episode of AudioHelicase, we talk to three researchers about the cells in our bodies that can regenerate – and those that can’t. We ask, why can some cells no longer renew themselves? And, importantly, can we change that?
Graduate student Zak Swartz in Whitehead Institute Member Iain Cheeseman's lab uses bat stars to study how cells divide. Click to experience a multimedia story aboutbat stars, from their arrival at Whitehead Institute in a chilly cardboard box to the role of their tiny eggs in Swartz' research.
