Li Lab

In order for researchers to understand the biology of living organisms, they must consider what is happening across the size scale. Interactions between molecules drive interactions between cells that affect traits and behaviors. Experiences and decisions made by the organism can lead to changes at the cellular and molecular level. In order to understand the full picture, Whitehead Institute researchers study everything from molecules to cells to whole organisms.

The Li lab recreates early developmental events in the Petri dish to study the building blocks of life. But this unique approach to biology carries implications that stretch past embryonic development.

Mark Greenwood is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Pulin Li’s lab studying hormone signaling. We sat down with Mark to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Gavin Schlissel is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Pulin Li’s lab studying cell signaling and how proteins move between cells. We sat down with Gavin to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Whitehead Institute Member Pulin Li has been selected by The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group to be an Allen Distinguished Investigator. The Allen Distinguished Investigator program backs creative, early-stage research projects in biology and medical research that would not otherwise be supported by traditional research funding programs. Each Allen Distinguished Investigator award provides three years of research funding.

Whitehead Institute Member Pulin Li has received a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The prestigious award supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators. It is part of an NIH initiative supporting exceptionally high-impact studies addressing major research opportunities or gaps.

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?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) provost Martin A. Schmidt has announced that two Whitehead Institute Members -- Ankur Jain and Pulin Li -- have been appointed to MIT career development professorships.