Genetics + Genomics

Certain human cells can be made to manufacture virus-like particles that deliver gene editing tools – including potential therapies – into target cells. By modifying these producer cells, Valhalla Fellow at Whitehead Institute Aditya Raguram and colleagues engineered particles that are up to nine times more potent.

Research from the lab of Whitehead Institute Member David Page suggests genetic factors may be protecting females from developing autism at the same rate as males. This mechanism could also shed light on other pediatric conditions with a sex bias.

 

MicroRNAs help cells regulate which genes are active, but they must also be regulated—through destruction. In a new study, researchers at Whitehead and Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry have uncovered how cells selectively destroy certain microRNAs through a mechanism that requires two RNA signals working together.

Rare disease treatment and care relies on the combined efforts of clinicians, researchers, and families. Yet these people rarely find themselves in the same room. BridgeRD brought together stakeholders to address challenges of understanding, diagnosing, and treating rare diseases.

Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman and colleagues, together with collaborators in Xiaowei Zhuang’s laboratory at Harvard University, developed an approach to collect multiple types of imaging and sequencing data from the same set of cells in animals, leading to new insights into liver biology in mice.

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.

Whitehead Institute Member Siniša Hrvatin is studying tardigrades to decode the mechanisms enabling their survival in extreme environmental conditions. Learn about the biology of these microscopic “water bears” and what makes them a particularly fascinating model organism. Click here to view the full multimedia story.

Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido and colleagues performed the first genome-wide screen of Toxoplasma gondii in live hosts, uncovering genes that are important for infection but had been undetected in cell culture experiments. Their results demonstrate the importance of studying parasites in live hosts and point to a possible new drug target.