Rate My Professor Amanda Whipple

Amanda Whipple is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, where she has served as principal investigator of the Whipple Lab since 2019. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma and her Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, studying the role of an RNA binding protein in myotonic dystrophy type I under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas Cooper. Whipple then pursued postdoctoral fellowships at Ionis Pharmaceuticals, where she contributed to proof-of-concept studies for a novel RNA-targeted therapy for Angelman syndrome, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, investigating mechanisms of parental gene inheritance regulation in the brain. Her research has centered on RNA biology and its therapeutic potential throughout her career.

The Whipple Lab elucidates the cis- and trans-acting mechanisms of imprinted non-coding RNAs—such as microRNAs, small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs), and long non-coding RNAs—in regulating gene expression in neurons. Key projects include identifying neuronal targets of orphan snoRNAs, delineating networks controlled by imprinted miRNAs, and uncovering how imprinted lncRNAs repress genes in cis. This work addresses genomic imprinting's role in normal neurodevelopment and disorders like Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes. Notable publications include "Imprinted maternally-expressed microRNAs antagonize paternally-driven gene programs in neurons" (Molecular Cell, 2020), co-authored with Mriganka Sur and Phillip A. Sharp; "Towards a therapy for Angelman syndrome by targeting a long non-coding RNA" (Nature, 2015); a chimeric eCLIP method for mapping snoRNA-target interactions (Genome Biology, 2025); and a study on stem cell-determined DNA folding influencing brain gene expression (Genes & Development, 2023). Whipple has been honored with the 2020 Rita Allen Foundation Scholar award (Milton E. Cassel Scholar), the Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship in Neuroscience, the George W. Merck Fellowship, the 2025 MCB Mentorship Award, and funding from NIH R01, the Milton Fund, and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research. She teaches MCB 197, "Gene Regulation: A Bench-to-Bedside Journey," and is affiliated with the Center for Brain Science, Harvard Biophysics Graduate Program, and PhD Program in Neuroscience.