Rudolf Jaenisch

Rudolf Jaenisch

Professor of Biology; Core Member, Whitehead Institute; Member, Institute of Medicine

Rudolf Jaenisch uses pluripotent cells (ES and iPS cells) to study the genetic and epigenetic basis of human diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, autism and cancer.

617-258-5186

Phone

WI-461B

Office

jaenisch@wi.mit.edu

Email

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Location

Lab Website
Robert Burger

Assistant

617-258-7137

Assistant Phone

Education

  • MD, 1967, University of Munich

Research Summary

We aim to understand the epigenetic regulation of gene expression in mammalian development and disease. Embryonic stem cells are important because they have the potential to generate any cell type in the body and, therefore, have great potential for regenerative medicine. We study the way somatic cells reprogram to an embryonic pluripotent state, and use patient specific pluripotent cells to study complex human diseases.

Awards

  • German Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Otto Warburg Medal, 2014
  • New York Academy, Medicine Medal, 2013
  • Franklin Institute, Benjamin Franklin Medal, 2013
  • National Science Foundation, National Medal of Science, 2011
  • National Science Foundation, National Medal of Science, 2010
  • National Academy of Sciences, Member, 2003

Key Publications

  1. Editing DNA Methylation in the Mammalian Genome. Liu, XS, Wu, H, Ji, X, Stelzer, Y, Wu, X, Czauderna, S, Shu, J, Dadon, D, Young, RA, Jaenisch, R et al.. 2016. Cell 167, 233-247.e17.
    doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2016.08.056PMID:27662091
  2. Parkinson-associated risk variant in distal enhancer of α-synuclein modulates target gene expression. Soldner, F, Stelzer, Y, Shivalila, CS, Abraham, BJ, Latourelle, JC, Barrasa, MI, Goldmann, J, Myers, RH, Young, RA, Jaenisch, R et al.. 2016. Nature 533, 95-9.
    doi: 10.1038/nature17939PMID:27096366
  3. One-step generation of mice carrying mutations in multiple genes by CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome engineering. Wang, H, Yang, H, Shivalila, CS, Dawlaty, MM, Cheng, AW, Zhang, F, Jaenisch, R. 2013. Cell 153, 910-8.
    doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.04.025PMID:23643243
  4. In vitro reprogramming of fibroblasts into a pluripotent ES-cell-like state. Wernig, M, Meissner, A, Foreman, R, Brambrink, T, Ku, M, Hochedlinger, K, Bernstein, BE, Jaenisch, R. 2007. Nature 448, 318-24.
    doi: 10.1038/nature05944PMID:17554336
  5. Monoclonal mice generated by nuclear transfer from mature B and T donor cells. Hochedlinger, K, Jaenisch, R. 2002. Nature 415, 1035-8.
    doi: 10.1038/nature718PMID:11875572

Recent Publications

  1. Mitochondrial dysfunction and increased reactive oxygen species production in MECP2 mutant astrocytes and their impact on neurons. Tomasello, DL, Barrasa, MI, Mankus, D, Alarcon, KI, Lytton-Jean, AKR, Liu, XS, Jaenisch, R. 2024. Sci Rep 14, 20565.
    doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-71040-yPMID:39232000
  2. Rapid phagosome isolation enables unbiased multiomic analysis of human microglial phagosomes. Wogram, E, Sümpelmann, F, Dong, W, Rawat, E, Fernández Maestre, I, Fu, D, Braswell, B, Khalil, A, Buescher, JM, Mittler, G et al.. 2024. Immunity 57, 2216-2231.e11.
    doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2024.07.019PMID:39151426
  3. Multi-species genome-wide CRISPR screens identify conserved suppressors of cold-induced cell death. Lam, B, Kajderowicz, KM, Keys, HR, Roessler, JM, Frenkel, EM, Kirkland, A, Bisht, P, El-Brolosy, MA, Jaenisch, R, Bell, GW et al.. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.07.25.605098PMID:39091747
  4. The A53T Mutation in α-Synuclein Enhances Proinflammatory Activation in Human Microglia Upon Inflammatory Stimulus. Krzisch, M, Yuan, B, Chen, W, Osaki, T, Fu, D, Garrett-Engele, CM, Svoboda, DS, Andrykovich, KR, Gallagher, MD, Sur, M et al.. 2024. Biol Psychiatry , .
    doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.07.011PMID:39029776
  5. Human-specific paralogs of SRGAP2 induce neotenic features of microglia structural and functional maturation. Diaz-Salazar, C, Krzisch, M, Yoo, J, Nano, PR, Bhaduri, A, Jaenisch, R, Polleux, F. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.06.28.601266PMID:38979266
  6. MECP2 directly interacts with RNA polymerase II to modulate transcription in human neurons. Liu, Y, Flamier, A, Bell, GW, Diao, AJ, Whitfield, TW, Wang, HC, Wu, Y, Schulte, F, Friesen, M, Guo, R et al.. 2024. Neuron 112, 1943-1958.e10.
    doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.007PMID:38697112
  7. Approaches to pandemic prevention - the chromatin vaccine. Zhang, J, Askenase, P, Jaenisch, R, Crumpacker, CS. 2023. Front Immunol 14, 1324084.
    doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1324084PMID:38143744
  8. Genomic and biological variation in bat IFNs: An antiviral treatment approach. Al-Eitan, L, Mihyar, A, Zhang, L, Bisht, P, Jaenisch, R. 2024. Rev Med Virol 34, e2488.
    doi: 10.1002/rmv.2488PMID:37921610
  9. Complex haploinsufficiency in pluripotent cells yields somatic cells with DNA methylation abnormalities and pluripotency induction defects. Lasry, R, Maoz, N, Cheng, AW, Yom Tov, N, Kulenkampff, E, Azagury, M, Yang, H, Ople, C, Markoulaki, S, Faddah, DA et al.. 2023. Stem Cell Reports 18, 2174-2189.
    doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2023.09.009PMID:37832543
  10. Human iPS cell-derived sensory neurons can be infected by SARS-CoV-2. Flamier, A, Bisht, P, Richards, A, Tomasello, DL, Jaenisch, R. 2023. iScience 26, 107690.
    doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107690PMID:37680484
  11. NAD depletion mediates cytotoxicity in human neurons with autophagy deficiency. Sun, C, Seranova, E, Cohen, MA, Chipara, M, Roberts, J, Astuti, D, Palhegyi, AM, Acharjee, A, Sedlackova, L, Kataura, T et al.. 2023. Cell Rep 42, 112372.
    doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112372PMID:37086404
More Publications

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Photo credit: Gretchen Ertl/Whitehead Institute