3 Questions: Seychelle Vos on detangling DNA
An unconventional geneticist uses cryogenic electron microscopy and crystallography to understand gene expression and cell fate.
Nature-inspired CRISPR enzymes for expansive genome editing
Applied computational biology discoveries vastly expand the range of CRISPR’s access to DNA sequences.
SHERLOCK-based one-step test provides rapid and sensitive Covid-19 detection
New CRISPR-based research tool delivers results in an hour; researchers share protocol and kits to advance research and move toward clinical validation.
Newly discovered enzyme “square dance” helps generate DNA building blocks
MIT biochemists can trap and visualize an enzyme as it becomes active — an important development that may aid in future drug development.
Historic migration patterns are written in Americans' DNA
Genetic, geographic, and demographic data from more than 30,000 Americans reveal more genetic diversity within ancestry groups than previously thought.
Whitehead Institute receives $10 million to study sex chromosomes’ impact on women’s health
Gift establishes the Brit Jepson d’Arbeloff Center on Women's Health.
Screen could offer better safety tests for new chemicals
Using specialized liver cells, a new test can quickly detect potentially cancer-causing DNA damage.
A new way to regulate gene expression
Biologists uncover an evolutionary trick to control gene expression that reverses the flow of genetic information from RNA splicing back to transcription.
How biomarkers can record and reconstruct climate trends
Scientists reveal the genes and proteins controlling the chemical structures underpinning paleoclimate proxies.
Technique can image individual proteins within synapses
Rapid imaging method could help reveal how conditions such as autism affect brain cells.
Understanding genetic circuits and genome organization
Assistant professors Pulin Li and Seychelle Vos are investigating how cells become tissues and the proteins that organize DNA.
Using CRISPR to program gels with new functions
Smart materials change properties in response to specific DNA sequences; could be used in a variety of devices.
High-precision technique stores cellular “memory” in DNA
Engineers program human and bacterial cells to keep a record of complex molecular events.
To divide or not to divide?
Whitehead Institute team reveals molecular program that controls cells’ capacity for division.
An emerging view of RNA transcription and splicing
Whitehead Institute scientists find chemical modification contributes to trafficking between non-membrane-bound compartments that control gene expression.