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For scientists who study embryonic development, insects, amphibians and marine invertebrates provide a unique window on the early stages of an embryo’s life. These organisms differ from higher life forms by having a simpler system for cell division, but it’s a system on fast forward: The embryos receive a maternal care package that permits their DNA replication and chromosome segregation to go into overdrive.

Scientists know that in patients with Parkinson’s disease, certain proteins in the brain form clusters that somehow contribute to cell death and, eventually, lead to the onset of the disease’s debilitating symptoms. Whitehead scientists have succeeded in duplicating the disease’s most critical features in the most readily manipulated model organism in existence.

Scientists have been fascinated by miRNAs ever since the abundance of these tiny RNAs was discovered in 2001. Rather than code for proteins, miRNAs serve as regulators that turn protein-coding genes off. Now, new studies by scientists at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research are offering insight into the role miRNAs play in mammalian development.

Lydia Villa-Komaroff, chief operating officer and vice president for research at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, has been named to the board of directors for Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. (TKT), a Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company.

A national report says postdoctoral researchers are "indispensable" to the advancement of science, a fact often overlooked by institutions and funding agencies. Now postdocs are pushing for change. And people are listening.

Robert Langer, the Kenneth J. Germeshausen professor of chemical and biomedical engineering at MIT, is a pioneer in biomedical engineering and author of more than 500 issued and pending patents. His research on drug delivery and tissue engineering serves as a foundation for today's $20 billion drug-delivery industry.

Almost 150 different genomes have been sequenced to date, including the human genome. But sequencing needs are growing faster than ever. This fall, researchers at Whitehead Institute will test new technology to speed genome sequencing.

Scientists know that proteins called transcription factors that regulate gene expression play a key role in cellular function. But what if that’s only part of the story? What if these regulators lead a double life no one knew before?

The American Society of Human Genetics presented awards to Whitehead Member David Page and former graduate student Sjoerd Repping during its 53rd annual meeting, held recently in Los Angeles.

Any criminologist will tell you that witnesses, even the best intentioned, don’t always get it right. New software promises to do for biology what any criminal investigator would do at a crime scene: cross-examine witnesses until a single, coherent account of the event emerges.