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.
Learn about the role of swarm cells in ovarian development; the single-step fate model in planarian neoblasts; and a new gene-editing technique, CRISPRoff. Our latest research highlights video features work from the labs of Ruth Lehmann, Peter Reddien and Jonathan Weissman.
Researchers at Whitehead Institute propose a new model for how the stem cells in aquatic worms called planarians commit to a specific fate. Instead of a long, slow process that occurs over many generations, the researchers suggest that the transition from “blank” stem cells to specialized cells could happen in a single division.
In this webinar, Yukiko Yamashita will highlight ways in which fundamental research brings novel biological processes to light. And she will introduce her lab’s latest discoveries on the function of satellite DNA, which has long been regarded as “genomic junk.”
Richard She is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman’s lab studying human evolution. We sat down with Richard to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.
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?
Germline cells live in a never-ending loop, forming the body’s most tangible link from generation to generation. In this short video, Yukiko Yamashita, Ruth Lehmann and David Page talk about their work on tracking germline cells’ throughout their migration to the gonads and eventual commitment to their fates.
