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According to Whitehead Institute researchers, cells with malfunctioning mitochondria are unable to proliferate due to a shortage of the amino acid aspartate, not because of an energy crisis, as was once thought. Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a role in a host of relatively rare disorders as well as neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s disease.

Leveraging a novel system designed to examine the double-strand DNA breaks that occur as a consequence of gene amplification during DNA replication, Whitehead Institute scientists are bringing new clarity to the causes of such genomic damage. Moreover, because errors arising during DNA replication and gene amplification result in chromosomal abnormalities often found in malignant cells, these new findings may bolster our understandings of certain drivers of cancer progression.

Scientists have applied a new method of analyzing cell states to identify a gene required for breast stem cells to differentiate. This gene, RUNX1, is deregulated or mutated in some leukemias and breast cancers. The novel approach, known as PEACS, could also be used to screen for drugs that activate or inhibit the expression regulators of stem cell differentiation.

Candida albicans is a human pathogen that causes potentially lethal infections in immunocompromised individuals. Efforts to overcome Candida’s innate resistance to many drugs have been thwarted by an absence of tools enabling genetic modifications. Now, using a modified CRISPR-Cas system, Whitehead Institute researchers can edit the fungus’s genome systematically—an approach that could help scientists understand Candida’s unique biology and identify potential drug targets.