Weng Lab

To avoid widespread famine and malnutrition, the world must double current food production by 2050, and do so in the face of climate-driven pressures. That is why a key thrust of the Whitehead Initiative on Biology, Health, and Climate Change focuses on plant seeds, the source of more than two-thirds of calories currently consumed globally.

Researchers from Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke Weng’s lab figured out how a newly- discovered plant enzyme performs its unique chemistry, helping plants make a heart-healthy molecule.

A pain-causing compound in the Australian stinging tree has applications for cancer treatment, but it’s difficult to harvest enough to study. Whitehead Institute scientists present a way to synthesize the compound in the leaves of harmless tobacco plants, and potentially in a culture dish.

$3 Million grant will underwrite bioengineering of orphan crops as a method for enhancing global food security
 

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.

Jason Matos is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke Weng’s lab studying how plants make medicinal molecules. We sat down with Matos to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Experience a multimedia story exploring Whitehead Member Jing-Ke Weng’s work. Weng’s laboratory is combining the ancient wisdom of traditional plant-based global medicine with genomics, analytical chemistry, and synthetic biology in order to advance our understanding of plant metabolic evolution and impact a new era of natural products-based therapeutics.

A proposed project would provide a way to store carbon indefinitely in the tissues of specially engineered plants.

By learning from nature without overtaxing it, Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke Weng aims to help develop potent new drugs for a plethora of medical problems while addressing some of the environmental concerns of typical drug development.