Yukiko Yamashita elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Whitehead Institute Member, MIT Professor of Biology, and HHMI Investigator Yukiko Yamashita has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Election to the Academy is one of the most prestigious awards a scientist can receive and honors demonstrated excellence and achievement in science. 

The Yamashita lab at Whitehead studies how genetic information is passed from parents to their offspring. The lab focuses on understanding how germline cells (which become eggs or sperm) are able to keep passing on genes from one generation to the next, making life continue endlessly. Central to their studies is the regulation of germline stem cells. Germline stem cells divide asymmetrically, resulting in one cell remaining a stem cell and the other going on to develop into sperm or egg. In recent research, the lab has gained insight into how this asymmetry helps refresh or "rejuvenate" germline DNA before it is passed to the next generation. Yamashita’s research has also shed light on the role of satellite DNA—stretches of repeated DNA that do not code for proteins and were once thought to be useless "junk". Besides a fundamental role in cell biology, the lab’s findings suggest that rapid changes in these repeats in the germline may explain how closely related species become genetically incompatible by failing to produce live offspring. 

National Academy of Sciences members are nominated by existing members and chosen through a series of ranked internal elections. Each member is charged with serving as a role model for the nation’s next generation of scientists and, along with the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, comprise the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, commonly referred to as the National Academies. The National Academies has traditionally advised national and state leadership on scientific matters and informed public policymaking, producing studies and reports through its operating arm, the National Research Council, as well as evaluating manuscripts for the Academy’s journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 

With this election, Yamashita became the 10th out of 18 members of Whitehead Institute to achieve this distinction.