Assistant Professor of Biology
(July 2024)
Contact Information
Contact
Research Areas
Metastasis, Precision medicine
Working on ferroptosis is incredibly exciting because it is leading us into uncharted territory and transforming our understanding of how to fight cancer.
Research Summary
One of the longstanding challenges that accounts for high cancer mortality is the failure to effectively eradicate subpopulations of cancer cells that are highly metastatic, therapy-resistant, and therefore critical instigators of tumor relapse. Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent form of cell death driven by oxidative modifications of membrane phospholipids. The use of ferroptosis inducers to target these subpopulations of highly aggressive cells is an attractive adjuvant to many existing anti-cancer therapeutics and has gained much excitement over the last few years. To gain a comprehensive understanding of ferroptosis' full therapeutic potential, our research is focused on uncovering the molecular factors influencing ferroptosis susceptibility, investigating its effects on the tumor microenvironment, and developing innovative methods to manipulate ferroptosis resistance in living organisms. Our approach is multidisciplinary, drawing from functional genomics, metabolomics, bioengineering, and a range of in vitro and in vivo models. By combining these techniques, we aim to advance our knowledge in this field and ultimately translate our discoveries into effective cancer therapies.
Biography
Whitney Henry will join the the MIT faculty in 2024 as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology and a member of the Koch Institute. She received her bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from Grambling State University and her PhD from Harvard University. At Harvard, she conducted research under the mentorship of Alex Toker, focusing on the molecular mechanisms by which the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway drives breast cancer progression. Following her doctoral studies, she worked in the lab of Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute and was supported by fellowships from the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research and the Ludwig Center at MIT.