David Bartel

David Bartel

Professor of Biology; Core Member, Whitehead Institute; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

David Bartel studies molecular pathways that regulate eukaryotic gene expression by affecting the stability or translation of mRNAs.

617-258-5287

Phone

WI-601B

Office

dbartel@wi.mit.edu

Email

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Location

Lab Website
Laura Resteghini

Assistant

617-258-7778

Assistant Phone

Education

  • PhD, 1993, Harvard University
  • BA, 1982, Biology, Goshen College

Research Summary

We study microRNAs and other small RNAs that specify the destruction and/or translational repression of mRNAs. We also study mRNAs, focusing on their untranslated regions and poly(A) tails, and how these regions recruit and mediate regulatory phenomena.

Awards

  • National Academy of Sciences, Member, 2011
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute, HHMI Investigator, 2005
  • National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology, 2005
  • AAAS Newcomb Cleveland Prize, 2002

Key Publications

  1. The molecular basis of coupling between poly(A)-tail length and translational efficiency. Xiang, K, Bartel, DP. 2021. Elife 10, .
    doi: 10.7554/eLife.66493PMID:34213414
  2. The ZSWIM8 ubiquitin ligase mediates target-directed microRNA degradation. Shi, CY, Kingston, ER, Kleaveland, B, Lin, DH, Stubna, MW, Bartel, DP. 2020. Science 370, .
    doi: 10.1126/science.abc9359PMID:33184237
  3. The biochemical basis of microRNA targeting efficacy. McGeary, SE, Lin, KS, Shi, CY, Pham, TM, Bisaria, N, Kelley, GM, Bartel, DP. 2019. Science 366, .
    doi: 10.1126/science.aav1741PMID:31806698
  4. Excised linear introns regulate growth in yeast. Morgan, JT, Fink, GR, Bartel, DP. 2019. Nature 565, 606-611.
    doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0828-1PMID:30651636
  5. A Network of Noncoding Regulatory RNAs Acts in the Mammalian Brain. Kleaveland, B, Shi, CY, Stefano, J, Bartel, DP. 2018. Cell 174, 350-362.e17.
    doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.05.022PMID:29887379

Recent Publications

  1. The E3 ubiquitin ligase mechanism specifying target-directed microRNA degradation. Farnung, J, Slobodyanyuk, E, Wang, PY, Blodgett, LW, Lin, DH, von Gronau, S, Schulman, BA, Bartel, DP. 2026. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.64898/2026.01.05.697729PMID:41542392
  2. Derepression of a single microRNA target causes female infertility in mice. Stefano, J, Elcavage, LE, Hong, SJ, Bartel, DP, Kleaveland, B. 2026. Nucleic Acids Res 54, .
    doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaf1357PMID:41533591
  3. The G3BP stress-granule proteins reinforce the integrated stress response translation programme. Smith, J, Bartel, DP. 2026. Nat Cell Biol 28, 135-148.
    doi: 10.1038/s41556-025-01834-3PMID:41419572
  4. mRNA 3' UTRs direct microRNA degradation to participate in imprinted gene networks and regulate growth. Lin, DH, Elcavage, LE, Khalizeva, E, Bartel, DP. 2025. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2025.11.06.686990PMID:41279844
  5. mRNA poly(A)-tail length is a battleground for coronavirus-host competition. Latifkar, A, Levdansky, Y, Balabaki, A, Nyeo, SS, Valkov, E, Bartel, DP. 2025. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2025.10.09.680815PMID:41279592
  6. Functional microRNA targeting without seed pairing. Hall, MH, Wang, PY, Pham, TM, Bartel, DP. 2025. Nucleic Acids Res 53, .
    doi: 10.1093/nar/gkaf1018PMID:41099710
  7. Lysosomal RNA profiling reveals targeting of specific types of RNAs for degradation. Ray, GJ, Nardini, E, Keys, HR, Lin, DH, Sabatini, DM, Bartel, DP. 2025. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2025.09.09.674968PMID:40964324
  8. 5' untranslated regions tune Toxoplasma translation. Peters, ML, Shukla, A, Gotthold, ZA, McCormick, DM, Xiang, K, Bartel, DP, Lourido, S. 2025. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2025.07.14.664749PMID:40791393
  9. Global inhibition of deadenylation stabilizes the transcriptome in mitotic cells. Khalizeva, E, Latifkar, A, Bartel, DP, Ly, J, Cheeseman, IM. 2025. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2025.07.22.666109PMID:40777404
  10. PAL-AI reveals genetic determinants that control poly(A)-tail length during oocyte maturation, with relevance to human fertility. Xiang, K, Bartel, DP. 2025. Nat Commun 16, 7079.
    doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-62171-5PMID:40750633
More Publications

Multimedia

 

 

 

 

 

Photo credit: Gretchen Ertl/Whitehead Institute