Sinisa Hrvatin

Peter Reddien received his Ph.D. in Biology from MIT in 2002. His Ph.D. research focused on the molecular basis for programmed cell death in C. elegans. His postdoctoral research was performed at the Univeristy of Utah, where he developed RNAi tools for studying regeneration in planarians. He joined the faculty of the MIT Department of Biology in 2005. He is currently and HHMI Investigator, Professor and Associate Department Head of MIT Biology, and Member and Associate Director of the Whitehead Institute.

To survive extreme environments, many animals have evolved the ability to profoundly decrease metabolic rate and body temperature and enter states of dormancy, such as torpor, hibernation, or cryobiosis. Our laboratory studies the mysteries of how animals and their cells initiate, regulate, and survive these adaptations. Specifically, we focus on investigating: 1) how the brain regulates metabolism and temperature during torpor (in mice) and hibernation (in hamsters), 2) how cells from various organisms adapt to function at low temperatures, 3) how tardigrades evolved to survive cycles of freezing and thawing, and 4) the applications of these states to slowing down tissue damage, disease progression, aging, and cryopreservation. Our long-term goal is to explore potential applications of inducing similar states of “suspended animation” in humans.

Computational approaches in our lab include: cross-species genomic comparisons (eg. why only some organisms can hibernate, or survive low temperature); systems neuroscience; discovery of novel proteins in nonconventional model organisms (e.g. tardigrades); designs of synthetic proteins with new functions.