Whitehead Institute

Whitehead Institute was founded in 1982 by industrialist and philanthropist Edwin C. “Jack” Whitehead (1920–1992), who sought to establish a research institute "dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical science".[7][8][9] Whitehead believed that while such an institution should be closely affiliated with an academic institution, it should remain wholly independent and self-governing. In David Baltimore (1975 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine), Whitehead found a partner who agreed that this approach would create an "optimum environment for basic research".[10] As Whitehead Institute's Founding Director, Baltimore handpicked Harvey Lodish,[11] and Robert Weinberg from MIT,[12] Gerald Fink from Cornell University,[13] and Rudolf Jaenisch from University of Hamburg, Germany, to be Whitehead Institute's Founding Members.[14] This group then identified promising younger scientists to be the first generation of Whitehead Members; and they established the Whitehead Fellows Program as a vehicle for accelerating the careers of highly promising young investigators.

Less than a decade after its founding, the Institute for Scientific Information in Philadelphia identified Whitehead as the top research institution in the world in molecular biology and genetics, based on the impact of its scientific publications.[8] Whitehead Institute's Center for Genome Research (CGR) became the single largest contributor to the Human Genome Project, and reportedly contributed one-third of the human genome sequence announced in June 2000.[15]

In the early 2000s, the CGR formed the independent Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, of which then-Whitehead Member Eric Lander was named Founding Director and President.

Whitehead Institute's influence continues - over a 10-year period, papers published by Whitehead scientists had more impact in molecular biology and genetics than those from any of the 15 leading research universities and life sciences institutes in the United States.[9] Training and education is integral to Whitehead Institute's mission and approximately 300 undergraduates, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and visiting scientists are integrally engaged in its research programs. Four times since 2009, the Whitehead Institute has been ranked first as the Best Place to Work for Postdocs in USA by The Scientist magazine.[16]

Today, Whitehead scientists run research programs in cancer biology, developmental biology, genetics and genomics, metabolism, neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative disease, and regenerative medicine. In addition, numerous biotech companies have been launched by Whitehead Members or based on intellectual property developed at the institute, such as Alnylam Pharmaceuticals,[17] Sanofi Genzyme,[18] Ironwood Pharmaceuticals,[19] Rubius Therapeutics,[20] and Verastem.[21]

In 2019, according to the NACUBO report, the institute had an endowment of $527.9 million.[22]

The Whitehead faculty currently comprises 18 members whose laboratories focus on biology's most fundamental questions.[23] The Members, who are all also MIT faculty members, are:

• David Bartel – co-discovered the abundance of microRNAs and has since played a leading role in defining these short RNAs and how they act to regulate genes in plants and animals[24]
• Iain Cheeseman – studies the kinetochore, the group of proteins that assemble at the centromere and that are required for chromosome segregation and cell division; defining the roles of the different components of the kinetochore may enhance understanding of mechanisms underlying a variety of diseases[25]
• Gerald R. Fink – developed baker's yeast as a model for studying the fundamental biology. His use of classical genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology has yielded numerous important findingsr regarding how fungal pathogens invade the body, evade the immune system, and establish an infection[26]
• Mary Gehring – studies how gene expression in plants is modulated by epigenetics (heritable information that influences cell function but is not encoded in DNA)[27]
• Rudolf Jaenisch – investigates the genetic and epigenetic basis of diseases including Parkinson's, autism, and Rett and Fragile X syndrome. He has used patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells to develop sophisticated models of conditions such as Alzheimer's and diabetes. Jaenisch created the first transgenic animal model and was the first to demonstrate therapeutic cloning in mice[28]
• Ankur Jain – studies how biomolecules in a cell self-organize; in particular, the form and function of membrane-free cellular compartments such as RNA granules. His lab develops new biochemical and biophysical techniques to investigate these compartments and to understand their dysfunction in human disease[29]
• Ruth Lehmann – is the director of Whitehead Institute and studies the biological origins of germ cells, and how they transmit the potential to build a completely new organism to their offspring [30]
• Pulin Li – investigates how networks of interacting genes within individual cells help those cells organize into complex tissues and other multicellular functions[31]
• Harvey F. Lodish – studies red blood cell formation and diseases associated with this process. He is recognized for pioneering work on erythropoietin, the hormone controlling red blood cell formation, as well as for studies of the formation of fat cells and their role in diseases such as obesity and diabetes[32]
• Sebastian Lourido – investigates the biology of apicomplexan parasites, which include the etiologic agents of many common human diseases, such as toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma gondii), cryptosporidiosis (Cryptosporidium spp.), and malaria (Plasmodium spp.). His lab uses Toxoplasma to model conserved aspects of apicomplexan biology, and recently used CRISPR-based genetic screens to identify parasite genes that contribute to infection[33]
• David C. Page – was the director of Whitehead Institute from 2004 to 2020 and studies genomics of sex chromosomes;[34] he has made pioneering discoveries about the Y chromosome, is investigating the differential impact of XX and XY chromosomes on cellular function throughout the body, and is elucidating the resulting sex-biased effects on health and disease
• Peter W. Reddien – studies how regenerative organisms regrow body parts. Using the flatworm planaria, he has identified important components of the molecular and developmental programs specifying the body parts to be replaced, and shown that they require pluripotent stem cells called neoblasts, as well as expression of position control genes and signals from the muscle[35]
• Robert A. Weinberg – studies the molecular and genetic basis of human cancer, cancer stem cells, and the factors involved in cancer metastasis. Having discovered the first human oncogene and the first tumor suppressor gene, he is studying how cancer stem cells contribute to tumor invasion and metastasis[36]
• Jonathan Weissman – studies how proteins fold in the cell and how this process can go awry, causing disease [37]
• Jing-Ke Weng – focuses on understanding the origin and evolution of specialized metabolic systems in plants; he is particularly interested in developing new therapeutics inspired by traditional herbal medicines of the world[38]
• Yukiko Yamashita – studies the mechanisms that regulate asymmetric stem cell division, and their implications for cancer and other diseases [39]
• Richard A. Young – studies factors that influence gene expression in healthy and diseased cells. His work is helping to define basic mechanisms of gene expression and inform how its dysregulation in certain diseases, including cancer, could be targeted therapeutically[40]

The Whitehead Fellows Program provides an opportunity for highly accomplished recent PhDs to direct their own labs, rather than work in a senior researcher's lab as a traditional postdoctoral researcher. Fellows receive dedicated lab space and funds for equipment, lab operations, salary, and core staffing. They also receive mentoring from Whitehead Faculty Members, who serve as resources and integrate the Fellows into the institute's collaborative culture.[41] Past Whitehead Fellows include George Q. Daley, Dean of Harvard Medical School; Angelika Amon, MIT professor and cancer researcher; Eric Lander, President and Founding Director of Broad Institute; Kathleen Rubins, NASA astronaut and space biologist; Keith E. Mostov, professor of cell biology at the University of California, San Francisco; David C. Page, Whitehead Institute Director; and Peter S. Kim, former President of Merck Research Laboratories.[42]

• Broad Institute
• Salk Institute
• Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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