Technology and methods

Founding Member Harvey Lodish has been twice honored by the international science community for his path-breaking scientific accomplishments and intellectual leadership.

A proposed project would provide a way to store carbon indefinitely in the tissues of specially engineered plants.

Whitehead Institute Member David Sabatini’s latest in a series of tools to isolate and analyze the contents of specific organelles helps researchers study melanosomes, the structures inside of cells responsible for skin color.

When Whitehead Institute researchers don’t have the tools to answer their questions, they build them.

Whitehead researchers provide insight into a specific gene pathway that appears to regulate the growth, structure, and organization of the human cortex. They also demonstrate that 3D human cerebral organoids--miniature, lab-grown versions of specific brain structures--can be effective in modeling the molecular, cellular, and anatomical processes of human brain development. And they suggest a new path for identifying the cells affected by Zika virus.

Although the genome editing system known as CRISPR/Cas has revolutionized genetic research in cell lines, its overall efficiency has been relatively poor when used to generate genetically altered animals for disease modeling.  Now Whitehead Institute scientists have altered the approach in a manner that could accelerate the production of mice carrying precise mutations of multiple genes.

A team of Whitehead Institute researchers is bringing new levels of efficiency and accuracy to one of the most essential albeit tedious tasks of bench science: pipetting.