Nervous system development and function

Valhalla Fellow Lindsey Backman explains what the microbiome is and the roles that different members of our microbiomes play in health and disease. She also discusses how her lab studies adaptations that some microbes have evolved to tolerate oxygen-containing environments, and how researchers may be able to use what she learns to create better antibiotics and probiotics.

In order for researchers to understand the biology of living organisms, they must consider what is happening across the size scale. Interactions between molecules drive interactions between cells that affect traits and behaviors. Experiences and decisions made by the organism can lead to changes at the cellular and molecular level. In order to understand the full picture, Whitehead Institute researchers study everything from molecules to cells to whole organisms.

Whitehead Institute Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues found that Rett Syndrome can cause significant mitochondrial dysfunction in astrocytes, a brain cell type that supports neurons, and in neurons that later acquire these mitochondria.

In Parkinson’s disease, clumps of sticky proteins trigger inflammation in the brain, leading to neuronal death. Whitehead Institute’s Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues have now found that a mutation causing these proteins to misfold and become sticky can also turn the brain’s immune cells from friends to foes, possibly accelerating the progression of the disease.

Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues developed an approach to isolate and analyze phagosomes, which are an important organelle in microglia, a type of immune cell found in the brain. Microglia are involved in brain development, as well as neurodegeneration, brain cancer, and more so understanding their biology has many potential implications.

Whitehead Institute Founding Member Rudolf Jaenisch and colleagues have uncovered how the Rett syndrome disease gene plays a key role in the expression of many other neuronal genes, expanding our understanding of the biology of Rett syndrome and, potentially, autism spectrum disorder.

Research from Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman and colleagues sheds light on human evolution, and demonstrates an approach for identifying significant differences in how genes are used between closely-related species.

Read about brain-related research at Whitehead Institute.

A new study from Peter Reddien's Lab at Whitehead Institute is a step forward in understanding how neural circuits could be regenerated in adults