News

Whitehead-Broad team harnesses new pooled, image-based screening method to probe the functions of over 5,000 essential genes in human cells.

Planarians, a type of aquatic flatworm, are a super regenerator, able to restore their bodies by growing back anything from an eye or a tail to a head. Whitehead Institute Member Peter Reddien seeks to understand how planarians are able to regenerate so effectively.

Researchers at Whitehead Institute study the many aspects of germ cells that set them apart from other cell types. They ask questions about how germ cells migrate across the embryo to meet developing gonads, and how germ cells ultimately give rise to eggs and sperm. 

Much of biology is defined by activity: the rapid growth of an embryo, or the adventurous life cycle of a parasite, or the frenzied evolution of cancer cells. But for two Whitehead Institute researchers, there is much to learn by studying periods of rest.

A new study reveals that the protein MTCH2, which is essential in a variety of cellular processes, is responsible for shuttling various other proteins into the membrane of mitochondria. The finding could have implications for cancer treatments and provides insight into a variety of MTCH2-linked conditions.

Whitehead Fellows are recently graduated PhDs and MDs who possess a record of significant accomplishment, have demonstrated capacity to solve major research problems, and have proven potential for independent research.

Junsik Choi is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Mary Gehring’s lab studying epigenetic inheritance in plants. We sat down with Junsik to learn more about him and his experiences in and out of the lab.

Researchers frequently turn to C. elegans to learn about not only their biology, but our own. C. elegans is one of the most intimately understood species in biology—the first animal to have its complete genome sequenced or its neural circuitry completely mapped. How did this simple worm become so well studied and a fixture in laboratories around the world?