News

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. High levels of Musashi 2 protein is associated with increased cell proliferation, decreased cell maturation, and multiple cancer-related cellular pathways in human leukemias.

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.

Oxygen levels in the lab can permanently alter human embryonic stem (ES) cells, specifically inducing X chromosome inactivation in female cells, according to Whitehead Institute researchers.

Whitehead Institute researchers have determined a key part of how cells regulate the chromosome/microtubule interface, which is central to proper chromosomal distribution during cell division.

Whitehead Institute researchers have converted established human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and human embryonic stem (ES) cells to a base state of greater pluripotency. 

Whitehead Institute researchers have identified the mechanism that the protein c-Myc uses to regulate gene transcription, which affects one-third of the expressed genes in the genome. The work also reveals a general role for this mechanism in gene control, which is called transcriptional pause release.

According to Whitehead Institute researchers, cells take advantage of a biologically ancient compartment to sequester prions, an action that can initially prevent the prions’ phenotypic expression. While in this compartment, less stably heritable prion plaques also mature to a more transmissible state.

Using T cells primed for the infectious disease toxoplasmosis, Whitehead Institute researchers have created novel mouse models of the immune system that more accurately reflect how immune cells actually respond to pathogens in their presence.

Whitehead Member Iain Cheeseman has been awarded a Young Investigator grant from the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP). The grant will fund a team including Cheeseman to study how a structural scaffold of proteins, called the spindle matrix, prepares a cell for cell division.