Diseases

Explore the latest multimedia piece in the Unusual Labmates series to learn more about how an innovation made studying bat biology in depth possible, and how researchers at Whitehead Institute have made use of bat biology to study questions about viral infection, immunity, cold tolerance, and more. 

Our latest Research Highlights video features three exciting new findings from Whitehead Institute: New work from the Jaenisch lab helps explain bats' impressive resistance to viruses; researchers in the Young lab identify a common denominator underlying chronic disease states; and researchers in the Cheeseman lab identify precise regulatory mechanisms controlling the production of protein variants during mitosis.

Jaspreet Sandhu is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman’s lab studying how the genetics of individual cells determine their behaviors within the liver. He is also a gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. We sat down with Jaspreet to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Valhalla Fellow Lindsey Backman explains what the microbiome is and the roles that different members of our microbiomes play in health and disease. She also discusses how her lab studies adaptations that some microbes have evolved to tolerate oxygen-containing environments, and how researchers may be able to use what she learns to create better antibiotics and probiotics.