Futures in Biotech 1

Dr. Susan Lindquist is a Member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Sciences at MIT. Her discoveries in protein folding have lead to paradigm shifts in modern genetics and medicine, including how a protein called HSP90 acts as a capacitor modulate evolution, a process that can even be addressed pharmacologically and possibly used as a strategy in some forms of cancer. Her work also contributes to both our understanding of several protein folding diseases such as Parkinson's and Huntington's and seeks to tackle them head on.

Lastly, we discussed her discovery on how to transform yeast prions (similar to the misfolded proteins linked to mad cow disease) into nanowires as used in nanotechnology.

For more information, links, and discussions visit the Futures in Biotech blog.