Recent Discoveries & Publications

Yale researchers cited for top breakthroughs

The work of Haifan Lin, professor of cell biology and director of the Yale Stem Cell Center, was noted by the journal Science in its listing of the top ten scientific breakthroughs of 2006.

Haifan Lin was one of four scientists who contributed to breakthroughs in the understanding of small RNA molecules known as Piwi-interacting RNAs, or piRNAs. Lin's lab first discovered Piwi/ Argonaute genes, which are essential for the self-renewal of stem cells, in 1998. But it was not understood how these genes play a role in stem cell division until last year, when Lin's group showed that Piwi/Argonaute proteins bind to piRNAs.