News

Whitehead Institute Director and President Ruth Lehmann has been named a Foreign Member of the Royal Society. The Fellowship of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences, has been honoring excellence in science for over 360 years.

Carly Martin is developing a detailed map showcasing which genes are turned on or off across cell types during seed development. Step into her world as a graduate student in the Gehring Lab at Whitehead Institute and see — through a combination of video and text — what a typical day is like for her, as she explores innovative ways to enhance agricultural sustainability.

The Li lab recreates early developmental events in the Petri dish to study the building blocks of life. But this unique approach to biology carries implications that stretch past embryonic development.

Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues have uncovered how the Rett syndrome disease gene plays a key role in the expression of many other neuronal genes, expanding our understanding of the biology of Rett syndrome and, potentially, autism spectrum disorder.

Cancer cells decorate themselves with the CD47 protein, signaling the immune system to stand down. Whitehead Institute Valhalla Fellow Kipp Weiskopf and colleagues have developed a novel drug screen, pinpointing which cancer therapies — when combined with CD47-blocking antibodies — fare best at rallying the immune system against lung cancer cells.

As part of the Whitehead Institute Board of Directors’ strategy for continuing renewal, three highly regarded Board members will leave those roles this July. Each has made significant contributions to the organization’s ongoing capacity to conduct cutting-edge biomedical research and to train future scientific leaders.

Launched with philanthropic seed funding of $10 million, the Initiative will catalyze development of artificial intelligence-based tools to answer foundational questions about biology and human health.

Axolotls (Ambystoma mexicanum) are a critically endangered species of salamander. They are also highly regenerative. The latest story in our Unusual Labmates series explores these fascinating creatures, what Whitehead Institute researchers are hoping to discover by studying them, and why they are worth preserving in the wild. Click here to view the full multimedia story.

The Whitehead Institute community is remembering, with great fondness and appreciation,  Emily Wade. Known to friends and associates as “Paddy,” Wade died this past February at the age of 98. Paddy was a wonderful and accomplished person who was part of the Whitehead community for nearly two decades.