Whitehead Institute

MIT Professor Gerald Fink delivers the 2018-2019 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award Lecture, titled, “What is a Gene?”

The evolving definition of a gene

Professor Gerald Fink, a pioneer in the field of genetics, delivers the annual Killian Lecture.

April 5, 2019

Researchers have discovered that full-length introns — that is, those that have been cut out but remain otherwise intact — can persist and carry out useful biological functions.

Revising the textbook on introns

Whitehead Institute researchers uncover a group of introns in yeast that possess surprising stability and function.

January 16, 2019

The toughness of Sporopollenin, a polymer within the shells of pollen grains (seen here magnified 500X using a scanning electron microscope), has made it possible for plant life to survive on land — but has also frustrated attempts to study its fundamental composition, until now.

Cracking a tough case

Whitehead Institute and MIT researchers uncover the detailed molecular structure of the sporopollenin polymer, an inert material key for the emergence of land plants.

December 17, 2018

The common model of gene regulation imagines the nucleus of the cell as a large space in which molecules involved in DNA transcription float around seemingly at random.

Activating a new understanding of gene regulation

Study reveals the role of the activation domain, a part of transcription factors previously shrouded in mystery.

November 16, 2018

In this image of a growing mouse tumor, yellow fluorescence marks the presence of Lgr5+ cancer stem cells. Although Lgr5+ cells are only a minority of tumor cells, they are the source of all other tumor cells.

In pursuit of the elusive stem cell

New MIT initiative delves into the biology of stem cells and cancer stem cells, seeks ways to identify, purify, and propagate them.

October 15, 2018

The Committee on Animal Care solicits feedback

September 28, 2018

Research reveals that the external environment of epithelial cells influences the fidelity of chromosome segregation. Hepatocytes proliferating in regenerating livers, such as the mitotic cell shown here with a mitotic spindle (green) capturing chromosomes (blue), are able to accurately segregate chromosomes, whereas hepatocytes dividing in culture have high levels of chromosome missegregation.

Tissue architecture affects chromosome segregation

Biologists discover that the environment surrounding a cell plays an integral role in its ability to accurately segregate its chromosomes.

August 23, 2018

Findings from the Whitehead Institute at MIT not only help illuminate the biology of a well-known cancer chemotherapy, but also suggest a simple dietary supplement that could help broaden its therapeutic window and reduce its toxicity.

Scientists sharpen the edges of cancer chemotherapy

Whitehead team deploys CRISPR tools to better understand and uncover ways of improving methotrexate, a popular chemotherapy drug.

July 12, 2018

Lydia Villa-Komaroff (center) joins four MIT Summer Research Program students at the Building 68 retreat.

Fighting implicit bias in STEM with increased cognitive control

In a visit with the Department of Biology, Lydia Villa-Komaroff PhD '75 explains how “thinking fast makes changing slow.”

June 25, 2018

New assistant professor of biology and Whitehead Institute member Ankur Jain uses a combination of innovative approaches to investigate the biology of RNA aggregation.

Ankur Jain joins Whitehead Institute and the Department of Biology

Biophysicist will investigate the biology of RNA aggregation.

June 11, 2018

Researchers have taken an in-depth look at RNA-protein interactions, determining the sequence, structure, and context preferences of RNA-binding proteins in a high throughput manner.

Decoding RNA-protein interactions

Scientists leverage one step, unbiased method to characterize the binding preferences of more than 70 human RNA-binding proteins.

June 7, 2018

Network of diverse noncoding RNAs acts in the brain

Scientists identify the first known network consisting of three types of regulatory RNAs.

June 7, 2018

Gerald Fink wins faculty’s Killian Award

Biologist honored for his work developing yeast as a model organism for genetic studies.

May 16, 2018

3Q: Hazel Sive on MIT-Africa

Faculty director discusses the future of the initiative and Africa’s position as a global priority for the Institute.

May 7, 2018

Intestinal stem cells from mice that fasted for 24 hours, at right, produced much more substantial intestinal organoids than stem cells from mice that did not fast, at left.

Fasting boosts stem cells’ regenerative capacity

A drug treatment that mimics fasting can also provide the same benefit, study finds.

May 3, 2018

MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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