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Valhalla Fellow Lindsey Backman explains what the microbiome is and the roles that different members of our microbiomes play in health and disease. She also discusses how her lab studies adaptations that some microbes have evolved to tolerate oxygen-containing environments, and how researchers may be able to use what she learns to create better antibiotics and probiotics.

In order for researchers to understand the biology of living organisms, they must consider what is happening across the size scale. Interactions between molecules drive interactions between cells that affect traits and behaviors. Experiences and decisions made by the organism can lead to changes at the cellular and molecular level. In order to understand the full picture, Whitehead Institute researchers study everything from molecules to cells to whole organisms.

Researchers at Whitehead Institute are employing cutting-edge techniques that combine layers of data — from the function of individual genes to the interactions of all molecules within a living organism — to investigate biological phenomena with unprecedented depth and breadth. Their efforts are yielding a richer understanding of the mechanisms involved in health and disease.

Whitehead Institute Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues found that Rett Syndrome can cause significant mitochondrial dysfunction in astrocytes, a brain cell type that supports neurons, and in neurons that later acquire these mitochondria.

In Parkinson’s disease, clumps of sticky proteins trigger inflammation in the brain, leading to neuronal death. Whitehead Institute’s Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues have now found that a mutation causing these proteins to misfold and become sticky can also turn the brain’s immune cells from friends to foes, possibly accelerating the progression of the disease.

Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues developed an approach to isolate and analyze phagosomes, which are an important organelle in microglia, a type of immune cell found in the brain. Microglia are involved in brain development, as well as neurodegeneration, brain cancer, and more so understanding their biology has many potential implications.

Whitehead Institute Member David Page and colleagues measured the effects of the sex chromosomes on two types of immune cells, gaining insights into the cell-type-specific effects of gene regulation by sex chromosome genes. Their work also explores the biological underpinnings of sex biases in immunity and autoimmune disease.

Whitehead Institute graduate student researchers Christopher Giuliano and Julian Roessler have been awarded the 2024 Regeneron Prize for Creative Innovation. In addition, postdoctoral researcher Chen Weng was selected as a finalist in the postdoctoral fellows competition.

Whitehead Institute Member Mary Gehring has been selected as an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), one of just 26 scientists appointed in 2024.