Neurobiology

Xin Tang is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Rudolf Jaenisch’s lab investigating brain disease and developing approaches to discover new therapies. We sat down with Tang to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Whitehead Institute researchers are making important insights into the biology of the brain, from how it develops to what goes awry in neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Whitehead Institute researchers used a new approach for analyzing genetic risk data and discovered that disease-linked genes cause problems in brain cells that contribute to multiple sclerosis, which had been thought of as a solely autoimmune disease. This information could lead to the development of new therapies for multiple sclerosis, and the approach can be applied to gain insights into other diseases.

Alexsia Richards is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Rudolf Jaenisch’s lab investigating how dangerous tropical viruses interact with the brain. We sat down with Richards to learn more about her and her experiences in and out of the lab.

Whitehead Institute researchers are uncovering new ways that genes are regulated that upend existing paradigms of gene expression and provide important insights into health and disease. This collection of stories and multimedia explores that research.