News

Whitehead Institute researchers have designed methods to make lab research flow more smoothly.

A new screening method from the labs of Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman, Britt Adamson at Princeton University, and Editas Medicine provides a deeper look at how cells repair DNA damage. The method could help researchers assess the action of new gene editing methods. 

Kipp Weiskopf—who is identifying ways to prompt macrophages to fight cancer—has been named a Valhalla Fellow.

Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke Weng has conceived of a way to bioengineer plants so that they keep a significant portion of their carbon locked up, essentially permanently. If successful, the approach could be translated into practical applications that help reverse the increase in carbon that has prompted rising atmospheric temperatures. Seeing great potential in Weng’s concept, the Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment is underwriting a pioneering, three-year proof-of-principle project designed to produce prototype plants.

Alessandra Dall’Agnese is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member Richard Young’s lab studying how certain cellular compartments work in health and disease. We sat down with Dall’Agnese to learn more about her and her experiences in and out of the lab.

Some of the most important tools in researchers’ toolkits are the model organisms they use to study biological questions. How do researchers decide which species, out of the millions that exist, to develop as models? Whitehead Institute researchers have had a hand in establishing and promoting the use of several model organisms over the years.

Whitehead Institute Member Pulin Li has received a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The prestigious award supports unusually innovative research from early career investigators. It is part of an NIH initiative supporting exceptionally high-impact studies addressing major research opportunities or gaps.

Whitehead Institute Member Sebastian Lourido has been selected as a recipient of a 2021 Odyssey Award from the Smith Family Foundation. The Award — which was created to fuel creativity and innovation in junior investigators in the basic sciences — supports high impact ideas with the potential to generate breakthroughs and drive new directions in biomedical research. 

The Lasker Foundation has honored Whitehead Institute Founding Director David Baltimore with its 2021 Lasker~Koshland Award For Special Achievement In Medical Science.