Multimedia feature: Uncovering nature's riches

Whitehead Institute Member Mary Gehring has been selected as an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), one of just 26 scientists appointed in 2024.

To avoid widespread famine and malnutrition, the world must double current food production by 2050, and do so in the face of climate-driven pressures. That is why a key thrust of the Whitehead Initiative on Biology, Health, and Climate Change focuses on plant seeds, the source of more than two-thirds of calories currently consumed globally.

Researchers from Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke Weng’s lab figured out how a newly- discovered plant enzyme performs its unique chemistry, helping plants make a heart-healthy molecule.