MCB, CPB, AND NEUROSCIENCE CONCENTRATORS INDUCTED INTO PHI BETA KAPPA (PBK) HONOR SOCIETY

Each spring, the Harvard chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) academic honor society elects members of the graduating class to join the prestigious organization, along with those inducted as part of the annual “Junior 24” in the spring and “Senior 48” in the fall.

MCB Faculty Amanda Whipple has been selected as a recipient of the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship, which supports promising early-career researchers in neurobiology. Klingenstein-Simons Awardees receive $225,000 in funding over the course of three years.

MCB faculty Amanda Whipple has been chosen by the Rita Allen Foundation as one of five Rita Allen Scholars in the Class of 2020 and the sole recipient of the 2020 Milton E. Cassel Scholarship. Each Rita Allen scholar receives $500,000 over five years, and each Milton Cassel scholar receives an additional $50,000 over the five years.

MCB Faculty Amanda Whipple has been chosen to become 2020 George W. Merck Fellow. Named in honor of the pharmaceutical magnate, George W. Merck Fellowships are designed to address the funding needs of “rising stars in biology.” Each recipient receives $460,000 over two years to pay researchers’ salaries and cover the cost of experiments. Read more

Bonny Lemma joins the Whipple lab after receiving funding from the PRISE Summer Fellowship. The Program for Research in Science and Engineering (PRISE) aims to build community and stimulate creativity among Harvard undergraduate researchers. Bonny will work alongside graduate student Daniel Loftus in a remote capacity for the summer. We are thrilled to have her join the Whipple lab!

Amanda has joined the Program in Neuroscience as an affilated faculty member. Her lab is now accepting rotation students from PiN for fall 2020.

Mammals inherit two copies of each gene—one from their mother and one from their father. In most cases, the gene copy inherited from each parent is functionally indistinguishable. But a subset of genes, known as imprinted genes, are selectively activated from only one parental copy and, thereby, can differentially affect offspring depending on the parent-of-origin. Read more

Just one year after joining MCB faculty Amanda Whipple’s team, research assistant Udbhav Chitta has gone from RNA biology newbie to official co-author on a new paper that debuted in the journal Molecular Cell this week. Read spotlight

(Backdated November 2019)

Toward the end of her Ph.D. training, Amanda Whipple (née Ward) faced a dilemma: She could continue to satisfy her curiosity through basic research or adopt an industry role with more potential to improve human health. Whipple chose industry and soon “stumbled into” a research project that would renew her penchant for discovery. That research on non-coding RNA in a genetic disorder called Angelman Syndrome still motivates her ongoing work as a newly minted MCB professor. Read more

(Backdated November 2019)