Fink Lab

Making a model
Cell Biology

Some of the most important tools in researchers’ toolkits are the model organisms they use to study biological questions. How do researchers decide which species, out of the millions that exist, to develop as models? Whitehead Institute researchers have had a hand in establishing and promoting the use of several model organisms over the years.

CRISPR in space
Awards + Announcements

Whitehead Institute researchers lent their expertise and mentorship to Genes in Space, a challenge that invites students to propose experiments that will be carried out onboard the International Space Station

Pushing Beyond the Central Dogma
Awards + Announcements

A standing-room-only audience of faculty and students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offered rapt attention as Whitehead Institute Founding Member and former director Gerald R. Fink delivered MIT’s prestigious Killian Award Lecture

CRISPR-Cas genome editing of Candida albicans holds promise for overcoming deadly fungal infections
Genetics + Genomics

Candida albicans is a human pathogen that causes potentially lethal infections in immunocompromised individuals. Efforts to overcome Candida’s innate resistance to many drugs have been thwarted by an absence of tools enabling genetic modifications. Now, using a modified CRISPR-Cas system, Whitehead Institute researchers can edit the fungus’s genome systematically—an approach that could help scientists understand Candida’s unique biology and identify potential drug targets.