A study on asymmetric cell division in fruit fly stem cells took an unexpected twist, revealing how a dividing stem cell “chooses” which of its daughters receives more ribosomal DNA in order to pass on enough of these essential genes to subsequent generations.
Researchers in the lab of Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch designed a way to turn human pluripotent stem cells into insulin-resistant fat cells, providing a useful model for studying type 2 diabetes, a complex and slow-to-onset disease.
Researchers in Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann’s lab have discovered that swarm cells, a previously enigmatic cell type, help primordial germ cells time their transformation during development so that the ovary can successfully assemble for egg production.
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.
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.
Whitehead Institute Director Ruth Lehmann is the co-recipient of the 2020 Francis Amory Prize, awarded by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in recognition of outstanding achievements in medicine and reproductive physiology.
In this video, learn about new findings from Whitehead Institute researchers including a potential way to make cancer drugs more effective, how malaria-causing parasites could become less susceptible to an essential drug, and how regenerating flatworms rewire their eyes to their brains.
A new experimental system shows how insulin-producing beta cells react under autoimmune attack during type 1 diabetes; the results could lead to better treatments.
How viral RNA flexes to express different genes, a new model for studying human cancers in mice, and more: learn about the latest findings from Whitehead Institute researchers in this Research Highlights video.
