Israel’s Wolf Foundation, whose stated mission is “to promote science and art for the benefit of mankind,” has named Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch a recipient of the prestigious 2011 Wolf Prize in Medicine.
Whitehead Institute researchers have determined that heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) can create diverse heritable traits in brewer’s yeast by affecting a large portion of the yeast genome. The researchers conclude that Hsp90 was key in shaping the evolutionary history of the yeast genome, and likely others as well.
By determining how corticosteroids act to increase production of red blood cell progenitors, Whitehead Institute researchers have identified a class of drugs that may be beneficial in treating some erythropoietin-resistant anemias. The identified class of drugs may be able to treat other anemias.
Whitehead Institute researchers have linked hyperactivity in the mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) cellular pathway to reduced ketone production in the liver, which is a well-defined physiological trait of aging in mice. As animals age, their ability to produce ketones in response to fasting declines.
Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch has been named a recipient of the 2011 Warren Triennial Prize of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).
Whitehead Institute researchers have shown in mouse models that overexpression of the microRNA 125b (miR-125b) can independently cause leukemia and accelerate the disease’s progression in mice.
As Whitehead Institute’s newest Fellow, Yaniv Erlich comes to Cambridge in search of rare genetic variants or mutations occurring in individual human genomes.
Whitehead Institute postdoctoral fellow Yaqub (Jacob) Hanna has been recognized as a 2010 Young Innovator by MIT’s Technology Review magazine.
Mary Gehring will be studying epigenetic reprogramming in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Her work has commonalities and potential synergies with research occurring in other Whitehead laboratories.
The genes that are responsible for maintaining each cell type form DNA loops that link control elements for these genes. The DNA loop structure is essential for regulating the activity of cell-type-specific genes and thus maintaining cell state.
Short pieces of RNA, called microRNAs, control protein production primarily by causing the proteins’ RNA templates (known as messenger RNA or mRNA) to be disabled by the cell, according to Whitehead Institute scientists.
Cancer biologist Piyush Gupta joins the Whitehead Institute faculty in September on a mission to shed new light on the mechanisms that determine why some cells in our bodies behave appropriately while others venture down destructive, malignant paths.
Human embryonic stem (ES) cells and adult cells reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell-like state—so-called induced pluripotent stem or iPS cells—exhibit very few differences in their gene expression signatures and are nearly indistinguishable in their chromatin state, according to Whitehead Institute researchers.
Researchers at Whitehead Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston have identified a protein, called Musashi 2, that is predictive of prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. Diagnosed in an estimated 48,000 new patients annually, leukemia is blood cancer.
Cells from frozen human blood samples can be reprogrammed to an embryonic stem-cell-like state, according to Whitehead Institute researchers. These cells can be multiplied and used to study the genetic and molecular mechanisms of blood disorders and other diseases.
Whitehead Institute Founding Member Gerald Fink has been awarded the 2010 Genetics Prize of The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation for his groundbreaking research in yeast genetics.
Whitehead Institute researchers have determined how cells regulate the chromosome/microtubule interface, which is central to proper chromosomal distribution during cell division. Aberrant distribution of chromosomes can lead to cancer or premature cell death.
According to Whitehead Institute researchers, oxygen levels in the lab can permanently alter human embryonic stem (ES) cells, inducing X chromosome inactivation in female cells. This indicates that the current methods of isolation and maintenance are suboptimal.
For the first time, Whitehead Institute researchers converted established human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and human embryonic stem (ES) cells to state that corresponds to that of mouse embryonic stem cells, which are more immature and have greater pluripotency, and are much easier to propagate and to manipulate than traditional human ES.
Whitehead Institute researchers identified the mechanism that the protein c-Myc uses to regulate gene transcription. c-Myc is frequently linked to cell proliferation in human cancers. This mechanism suggests potential approaches to limiting its activity and controlling tumor growth in c-Myc-mediated cancers.
Whitehead researchers have created novel mouse models of the immune system starting with T cells primed for the infectious disease toxoplasmosis by generating cloned mice from these T cells. This model could be used to reliably study immune cell biology and the role of immune cells in infectious disease.
The first comprehensive comparison of Y chromosomes from two species sheds new light on Y chromosome evolution. Contrary to a widely held scientific theory that the mammalian Y chromosome is slowly decaying or stagnating, new evidence suggests that in fact the Y is continuously reinventing itself.
Several similar small molecules appear capable of protecting cells from alpha-synuclein toxicity, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. There is currently no cure for the disease, and current Parkinson’s therapies only address disease symptoms, not the disease’s cellular cause.
Whitehead researchers have developed a new approach for genetics in human cells and used this technique to identify specific genes and proteins required for pathogens. With the ability to generate knockout cells for most human genes, the authors were able to find genes used by pathogens to enter and kill human cells. The identification of such factors could aid the future development of new therapeutics to combat infectious disease.
Wounds trigger regeneration in planaria, a flatworm studied for its regenerative capabilities. Until now, no molecular connection between wounding and the onset of regeneration of an entire head or tail in planaria had been identified. Understanding of regeneration could benefit patients with traumatic injuries, such as amputation or nerve damage.
Some budding yeast species have the ability to silence genes using RNA interference (RNAi). Until now, most researchers thought that no budding yeasts possess the RNAi pathway because Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the prototypical model budding yeast does not.
The unique mechanism behind the evolutionary survival of the human Y chromosome may also be responsible for a range of sex disorders, from failed sperm production to sex reversal to Turner Syndrome.
Whitehead Institute researchers have shown definitively that mutations associated with prion diseases are sufficient to cause a transmissible neurodegenerative disease. Deciphering the origins of prion diseases could help determine how best to control a prion disease outbreak in livestock and to prevent prion transmission to humans.
The tail end of a cell’s protein templates may contain important cues that control protein creation. When this section is lopped off of a template, a cell can make too many copies of that protein and turn a normal cell cancerous, according to Whitehead Institute scientists.
A multi-institutional team has discovered a chemical that works in mice to kill the rare, aggressive cells within breast cancers that can seed new tumors. These cells, known as cancer stem cells, are thought to enable cancers to spread "” and to reemerge after seemingly successful treatment.
A novel technique allows researchers to efficiently modify or introduce genes into the genomes of human embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, according to Whitehead scientists. For years, scientists have easily swapped genes in and out of mouse ESC or iPS cell genomes, but have had a notoriously difficult time disrupting or inserting genes into their human equivalents.
Whitehead Institute scientists have developed a rapid, inexpensive drug-screening method that could be used to target diseases that until now have stymied drug developers, such as Parkinson's disease. This technique uses baker's yeast to synthesize and screen the molecules, cutting target discovery and preliminary testing time to a matter of weeks.
Low levels of a tiny RNA fragment in cells are associated with metastatic breast cancer in humans and increases the aggressive spread of breast cancer in mice, according to researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Measuring levels of this so-called microRNA in cancer cells may more accurately predict the likelihood of metastasis, the spread of cancer to other parts of the body that accounts for 90% of cancer-related deaths.
Whitehead Institute researchers have found a large number of new prions, greatly expanding scientists' notion of how important prions might be in normal biology and demonstrating that they play many and varied roles in the inheritance of biological traits.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has awarded Whitehead Member Peter Reddien an Early Career Scientist appointment, a six-year funded position that allows him to pursue his innovative biomedical research.
Scientists at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the National University of Singapore have discovered the first microRNA (miRNA) capable of directly tamping down the activity of the well known tumor-suppressor gene, p53, While p53 functions to prevent tumor formation, the p53 gene is thought to malfunction in more than 50% of cancerous tumors.
Whitehead Institute researchers have pinpointed a cellular pathway that determines whether cancerous tumors are susceptible to dietary restriction during their development. When this pathway, known as PI3K is permanently turned "on" via mutation, tumors grow and proliferate independent of the amount of food consumed.
Deploying a method that removes potentially cancer-causing genes, Whitehead Institute researchers have "reprogrammed" human skin cells from Parkinson's disease patients into an embryonic-stem-cell-like state. Whitehead scientists then used these so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to create dopamine-producing neurons, the cell type that degenerates in Parkinson's disease patients.
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is the top place to work for postdoctoral researchers, according to The Scientist's seventh annual survey of research institutions nationwide. Specifically cited were Whitehead's generous benefits, high-caliber senior scientists, and a family-friendly environment that supports a healthy work-life balance.
Researchers created an algorithm that meshes existing data to produce a clearer flow chart of how cells respond to stimuli. Using this new method, Whitehead Institute and MIT scientists have analyzed alpha-synuclein toxicity to identify genes and pathways that affect cell survival. Misfolded alpha-synuclein protein is a hallmark of Parkinson's.
Injecting the small protein insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) into the bloodstream reduces Rett syndrome symptoms in mice, including lethargy, breathing and heart rhythm irregularities, reduced brain size, and stalled nerve cell development. Rett syndrome is an inherited neurological disease that affects one out of 10,000 girls born. The disease does not have a cure or treatment.
Even the most drug-resistant fungi can be eradicated in multiple in vitro and in vivo models using a lethal combination of an antifungal agent and inhibition of a specific heat shock protein (Hsp90). Such findings could point to a novel approach for the development of future antifungal therapies for patients with compromised immune systems, including HIV, chemotherapy, and organ transfer patients.
Huntington's disease is caused by a single mutated gene that creates proteins with abnormally long repeats of the amino acid glutamine. These proteins misfold and clump together, damaging and eventually killing neurons. Yet the steps that trigger cell death have not been clarified. This study reports one early trigger: The misfolded proteins interfere with the cell's ability to move proteins marked for degradation out of the endoplasmic reticulum (a cell compartment that folds and processes proteins).
A new technique lets researchers, for the first time, look at single white blood cells and measure specific characteristics of the set of antibodies they produce when the body is under attack. The ability to measure antibodies from many individual immune cells may aid vaccine research and allow innovative medical tests.
Short snippets of RNA called microRNAs help to keep embryonic stem cells in their stem cell state. Researchers now have discovered the gene circuitry that controls microRNAs in embryonic stem cells. Mapping the control circuitry of stem cells reveals how they maintain themselves or decide to differentiate, providing key clues for regenerative medicine and reprogramming of adult cells to a stem cell state. These maps also aid our understanding of human development and diseases such as cancer.
Embryonic-like stem cells can be efficiently generated using a natural signaling molecule instead of the virally delivered cancer-causing gene c-Myc. The results represent progress in overcoming hurdles to the potential use of reprogrammed cells for stem-cell-based therapies in humans.
Cells that undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) show properties of stem cells, including the ability to self-renew. In addition, stem cells exhibit properties of cells that undergo EMT. Strikingly, both normal and cancer stem cells can be generated from differentiated cells by EMT. Understanding the role of EMT in adult stem cell creation may lead toward the development of healthy stem cells for regenerative medicine and provide drug targets for cancer.
Fully differentiated mouse cells, such as mature B cells, can be reprogrammed to embryonic-stem-cell-like induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells, without the use of an egg. Using reprogrammed mature B cells, researchers may be able to create mouse models that will aid in understanding autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.
This is the first demonstration that neurons derived from reprogrammed cells (IPS cells) can integrate into an adult animal brain and improve symptoms of a neurodegenerative disease. RELEVANCE: The results may indicate a path to future therapeutic use in human patients, once hurdles associated with reprogramming adult cells have been addressed.
Findings: The heat shock protein HSP90 can mask genetic changes in a species until the organism is stressed. In the mustard plant Arabidopsis thaliana, these potential changes may affect most inherited traits, including those that will affect survival, fitness and reproduction. Only when the organism is stressed are these traits exhibited.
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