Metabolism

A new study led by researchers in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido identifies how the widespread parasite Toxoplasma gondii adjusts its metabolism to survive in crowded environments in infected cells. The mechanisms they identify appear to help the parasite persist in long-lasting brain cysts.

Weissman Lab postdoc Ania Puszynska is studying the cell’s recycling centers, called lysosomes, to understand how aging affects cellular function and what those changes can reveal about the biology of age-related diseases.

Former Whitehead Institute postdocs reflect on the impact of their time at the Institute.

Whitehead Institute Member Siniša Hrvatin and colleagues  show that inducing a prolonged state of dormancy in mice slows down progressive molecular changes associated with aging. The work also identifies decreased body temperature as a central regulator of this anti-aging effect.

Christopher Reid is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Siniša Hrvatin’s lab studying how mammals regulate their core body temperatures. We sat down with Chris 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.

A new Whitehead Institute study investigates the role a family of proteins called Sestrins plays in sensing the presence of the essential amino acid leucine, as well as adapting to its absence. The presence of Sestrin allows fruit flies to choose foods rich in leucine over foods without the nutrient.

Researchers at Whitehead Institute uncover the 3-D structure of GATOR2, a protein complex that plays a critical role in a signaling pathway that regulates cell growth.

The amino acid leucine is necessary to build and maintain muscle. Researchers at Whitehead Institute reveal how the presence or absence of leucine is communicated to a key metabolic pathway in mice.