Thank You Core Facilities

At Whitehead Institute, Heather Keys manages the Functional Genomics Platform, which aids scientists in making use of this new tool and adapting CRISPR screens to new research settings.

BaRC director George Bell says all the interesting computational challenges that researchers bring to BaRC are what make him excited to come into work every morning. 

Caroline Lewis, director of the Metabolite Profiling Core Facility, is excited about the core’s new instrument. Her team helps Whitehead Institute researchers study chemicals produced in cellular reactions, known as metabolites. These compounds greatly outnumber larger molecules in the cell such as proteins — and many of them have not even been identified.

Genome Technology Core Director Tom Volkert arrived at Whitehead Institute Member Richard Young’s lab in 1999 during a transitional time for biological research.

Glasswashing Core Supervisor Uma Tejaswi says that most of her team clocks in long before sunrise. Arriving at Whitehead Institute at 4 A.M. or earlier lets the glasswashing group make sure that the hallway shelves are stocked with sterile glassware by the time that researchers arrive to begin their days. 

Eric Spooner knows his way around a protein. “I started in this field before proteomics became a word,” he says. 

Light Microscopy Specialist Wendy Salmon sometimes finds herself looking into microscopy images like shapes in the clouds. “I’ll say, ‘Look, there’s a snowman!’” she says. The habit comes a deep familiarity with the odd shapes found in microscopy, she says.

Maya Mitalipova, director of the Human Stem Cell Facility, isolated some of the first human embryonic stem cell lines confirmed by the National Institutes of Health in 2001. With 18 years of experience with human embryonic stem cells (HSCs) and having isolated 19 HSC lines at Whitehead Institute, Mitalipova says that her knowledge lets her troubleshoot nearly any hurdle that researchers encounter.