Protein form and function

Henry Kilgore is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Richard Young’s lab working on understanding how protein chemistry influences where in the cell proteins localize. We sat down with Henry to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Whitehead Institute Member Richard Young and colleagues have created a machine learning model that can predict in which cellular compartments a protein will reside, generate proteins to reside in a desired compartment, and detect disease mutations that alter cellular compartments, with implications for understanding and remedying disease.  

Whitehead Institute Member Iain Cheeseman and colleagues found that cells not only make many variants of known proteins, but that they switch between making different variants to tailor protein function during cell division.

Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues have uncovered how the Rett syndrome disease gene plays a key role in the expression of many other neuronal genes, expanding our understanding of the biology of Rett syndrome and, potentially, autism spectrum disorder.

Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman and colleagues used large-scale systematic genetic screens to identify the molecules and pathways that populate the mitochondrial surface with important and diverse signaling proteins. They deciphered the logic by which the cell ensures the proper delivery of these proteins. These findings may have important implications for understanding the impact on health and disease when these processes go awry.

Rare neurodegenerative diseases have been linked to excessive repeats in the DNA sequence. Whitehead Institute Member Ankur Jain and colleagues have uncovered a new mechanism that explains how an expanded CAG repeat — like the one involved in Huntington’s disease — can lead to the production of abnormal proteins, disrupting cell function.

Apicomplexan parasites are responsible for several prevalent infectious diseases including malaria. Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido and colleagues identified a protein complex that the parasites require for a critical step in invading host cells.

Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido and colleagues identified key parts of the pathway that enables apicomplexan parasites to exit one host cell, and travel to infect others, including the important role of a molecule they called HOOK. This finding illuminates how signals can move in cells and could inform drug development against the parasites.

Transcription factors bind DNA and protein. Now, researchers in Whitehead Institute Member Richard Young’s lab find that many transcription factors can also bind RNA, which fine tunes their regulation of gene expression, suggesting new therapeutic opportunities.