David Bartel wins HHMI appointment

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (March 22, 2005) — 2005 is off to a good start for Whitehead Member David Bartel. In January, he and his colleagues published a landmark paper in the journal Cell indicating that a newly discovered layer of human gene regulation is far more widespread than previously appreciated. A week later he was honored with the National Academy of Science's prestigious Award in Molecular Biology. And in March, Bartel was appointed Investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

“These are wonderful honors,” says Bartel, a professor of biology at MIT. “And with HHMI support, my lab can do things that were far more difficult to do in the past.”

Bartel isn't the only HHMI Investigator at Whitehead. Interim Director David Page has been an investigator since 1990, and Susan Lindquist was an HHMI investigator before coming to Whitehead in 2001.

Becoming an HHMI Investigator isn't easy. Out of the 320 U.S. scientists who were nominated this year, 43 were chosen. And competitions only occur every few years. Currently there are about 300 HHMI Investigators in the U.S.

HHMI Investigators remain at their original institution, but HHMI pays their salary and funds the bulk of their research. Emphasis is placed on the researcher's overall scientific track rather than individual projects. “That's really the dream of every scientist,” says Bartel, “to have that support to do what you think is most exciting regardless of the risk.” Bartel's research has recently been highlighted by the discovery of the abundance of microRNAs, molecules that play an active role in regulating the genomes of both plants and mammals by interrupting a gene’s ability to produce protein. It wasn't until 2000 that scientists were aware that these molecules existed in humans. Now, as shown in the recent Cell paper, Bartel and his colleagues have found that more than one third of the human genes are at least partially controlled by microRNAs. And, Bartel says, that number is a conservative estimate. This starkly contradicts the long-held assumption that RNA is little more than a passive intermediary between DNA and protein.

This area of research is also exciting due to its potential therapeutic applications. For example, using a technique known as RNA interference, or RNAi, researchers are shutting off genes by delivering into cells artificial microRNA-like molecules called short interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Learning more about how microRNAs operate in human cells should help scientists to understand how best to exploit siRNAs for treating disease.

“When I look at how far David's research has come in his eleven years at Whitehead, I'm simply amazed,” says Page. “He started here in 1994 as a Fellow, fresh out of Harvard. After just a few years he's one of the world's leading researchers in the study of RNA.”

“What HHMI is really doing is honoring and endorsing my whole lab,” Bartel says. “It isn't mainly me, but the work of all the students, postdocs and others, plus our collaborators, who have made our lab what it is.”

HHMI Whitehead Alumni

Written by David Cameron.

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research is a nonprofit, independent research and educational institution. Wholly independent in its governance, finances and research programs, Whitehead shares a close affiliation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology through its faculty, who hold joint MIT appointments.