Prof. Rudolf Jaenisch Whitehead Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

Rudolf Jaenisch is a Founding Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and a Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a pioneer in making transgenic mice, some of which have produced important advances in understanding cancer, neurological and connective tissue diseases, and developmental abnormalities.... read moreThese methods have been used to explore basic questions such as the role of DNA modification, genomic imprinting, X-chromosome inactivation, nuclear cloning, and, most recently, the nature of stem cells. The laboratory is renowned for its expertise in cloning mice and in studying the myriad factors that contribute to the success and failure of this process. They have more recently gained insights into therapeutic cloning, and have indeed rescued mice with a genetic defect through therapeutic cloning and gene therapy. Prof. Jaenisch is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the International Society for Stem Cell Research.