In this episode of AudioHelicase, we sit down with four Whitehead Institute researchers who are gaining unique insights into biological processes—from regeneration, organ function, and immune response to embryonic development—by studying them within the rich context of their natural environment.

Credits:
Interviews, production, and hosting by Shafaq Zia.

Music:
little ukulele melody.mp3 by InVolumes (CC0)

Illustration:
Madeleine Turner 

In this episode of AudioHelicase, we sit down with three Whitehead Institute researchers driving breakthroughs in disease treatment. Join us as we explore some of the toughest challenges they're overcoming to move transformative therapies from lab bench to your medicine cabinet.

Credits:
Interviews, production, and hosting by Shafaq Zia.

Music and sound effects:
Crescent Bloom by Kai Engel (CC BY-NC 4.0)
OBJPlls-INT_Pills Rattling by Alessia Pultrone (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Asthma Inhaler — Sprayed/ Dispensed 2 times by MutilatorBCB (CC0 1.0)
Velcro 7 by CassieTee (CC BY-NC 3.0)

Illustration: DrawImpacts

Whitehead Institute Member Siniša Hrvatin discusses his research on the neuroscience of hibernation.

Whitehead Institute researchers Silvi Rouskin, Ankur Jain, and David Bartel discuss how their RNA research connects to health and disease, including viral infections and neurodegeneration. This podcast is part of a multimedia series on RNA.

In this special episode of AudioHelicase, we talk to three researchers about the cells in our bodies that can regenerate – and those that can’t. We ask, why can some cells no longer renew themselves? And, importantly, can we change that? This podcast is part of our multimedia series, Cells Over Time.

Making our world more sustainable to preserve it for future generations will take not just one but many solutions. Researchers at Whitehead Institute are exploring how the natural world could teach us how to improve the sustainability of how we produce food, how we make medicines, how we make products more durable, and potentially how we remove carbon from the atmosphere.  In this special episode of AudioHelicase, we’ll hear from researchers at the Institute that are pursuing creative solutions to sustainability that combine a passion for making a difference with boundless curiosity for the living world.

 

Interviews by Greta Friar and Eva Frederick. Music by Pierce Murphy (CC BY 4.0) and Chris Zabriskie (CC BY 3.0). Produced and hosted by Conor Gearin.

In this episode of AudioHelicase Podcast, Whitehead Fellow Silvi Rouskin discusses her research on solving the structure of the novel coronavirus's RNA genome, with the goal of revealing weak points in the virus’s gene regulation that new drugs could potentially target.

Music: “Versailles” by Pierce Murphy (CC-BY 4.0). Produced by Conor Gearin.

On this episode of AudioHelicase podcast, Whitehead Fellow Olivia Corradin talked about investigating the genetic underpinnings of diseases through a new technique she developed, the outside variant approach. Applying the method to study the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS), Corradin and colleagues identified a role for a cell type in the brain in MS, offering a new way of understanding the disease. She also discussed running a lab during the COVID-19 pandemic, and evaluating scientific information in a time of uncertainty.

Music: “Versailles” by Pierce Murphy (CC-BY 4.0). Produced by Conor Gearin.

Plants have been used as medicine for thousands of years; could they contribute to a solution to the COVID-19 pandemic? This is what Whitehead Institute Member Jing-Ke-Weng set out to address in a new paper, published May 20 in the journal Molecular Plant.

We talked to Weng about an herbal treatment being used to treat COVID-19 in China derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine, the work necessary for such a treatment to be translated to an FDA-approved drug, and why the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need for basic, fundamental research in plant science and beyond.

Music: “Versailles” by Pierce Murphy (CC-BY 4.0), “The Minutes” by Scott Gratton (CC-BY-NC 4.0) Produced by Eva Frederick and Conor Gearin.

In this special episode of AudioHelicase podcast, we’re taking a look at how our researchers are identifying the key players that help conduct the cell’s symphony — the proteins and molecules that direct many other parts of the cell on when and how to do their jobs. The episode features highlights from interviews with Whitehead Institute Members David Sabatini, Mary Gehring, and Iain Cheeseman.

Music: “Versailles” by Pierce Murphy (CC-BY 4.0), “The Little Robot” by Forget the Whale (CC-BY-NC 4.0)

In this episode of AudioHelicase, Whitehead Institute Member Pulin Li talks about how her lab engineers cells in Petri dishes to communicate with each other and form patterns, recreating processes seen in embryo development—and how this work could eventually inform efforts to grow tissues in the lab.

 

Produced by Conor Gearin

Music: Pierce Murphy, “Versailles” (CC-BY 4.0)

In this episode of AudioHelicase, Whitehead Institute Member Ankur Jain discusses how RNA can clump in cells and the diseases, such as Huntington's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), that are associated with these aggregations.

In this episode of AudioHelicase, Whitehead Institute Member Iain Cheeseman discusses how his work on the kinetochore provides a window into cell division and what happens when this vital cellular function goes awry.

In this episode of AudioHelicase, Whitehead Institute Member Mary Gehring discusses how her research on the plant Arabidopsis thaliana reveals how gene regulation can be passed from one generation to the next.

From his discovery of the first oncogene and tumor suppressor, to his work revealing critical aspects of the mutational basis of cancer, and more recently its metastatic behavior, Whitehead Founding Member Robert Weinberg’s work has been foundational in our understanding of cancer biology.

Whitehead Member Sebastian Lourido studies a group of parasites called the Apicomplexa. These single-celled organisms are among the most common pathogens and are capable of causing devastating diseases in humans and animals, including toxoplasmosis, malaria, and infant diarrhea. Lourido's laboratory is investigating in particular how the Apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii  invades host cells and establishes its site of replication. The work holds great promise for exposing treatable vulnerabilities in the parasite—and in the closely related Plasmodium parasites, which cause malaria and contribute to more than half a million deaths each year.

NASA Astronaut and Former Whitehead Fellow Kathleen "Kate" Rubins sits down with Whitehead's Director David Page to discuss her journey from studying pox viruses to sequencing DNA in space.

As a graduate student, Whitehead Member David Sabatini identified mTOR, the keystone molecule in a cellular pathway connecting nutrition, metabolism, and aging. In this episode, he discusses how the molecule was first discovered and what his lab is currently working on, including mTOR’s role in cancer, growth, and metabolism.