Massachusetts—and more specifically, Boston—has a longstanding reputation for being a place where patients with difficult-to-crack medical cases come for treatment, top clinical talent comes to train, and the brightest minds in science come to push the boundaries of biomedicine.
Mass General Brigham (MGB) is one of the main contributors to this healthcare hub with its own historic legacy of “firsts” in medicine dating back to the 1800s with the first demonstration of ether as an anesthetic at Massachusetts General Hospital.
While it can be easy to take for granted, the reality is that a highly productive, pioneering scientific ecosystem like this takes many layers of support to succeed, including that of local, state, and federal lawmakers.
That’s why three of the system's star investigators—Gary Ruvkun, PhD, Reisa Sperling, MD, and Marcela Maus, MD, PhD—recently visited the Massachusetts State House to appeal to elected officials for their continued support of this incredible scientific ecosystem and the lifesaving research it produces.
(Pictured above, from left, are State Rep. Jay Livingstone, Paul Anderson, MD, PhD, Reisa Sperling, MD, Gary Ruvkun, PhD, State Senator Cindy Friedman, Marcela Maus, MD, PhD, and State Senator Joan Lovely)
An Engine for Innovation and Discovery
The event, hosted by State Sen. Cindy Friedman and moderated by Paul Anderson, MD, PhD, Chief Academic Officer of MGB, spotlighted exciting new developments in the field of biomedical research as well as the challenges that researchers are facing during this time of uncertainty.
"Our research at MGB has real world lifesaving impact that's contributed to Massachusetts being a healthcare leader for centuries," said Anderson. "We are pioneering discoveries and fields ranging from artificial intelligence to gene therapy, cancer, neuroscience and global health.
"MGB is a critical cog in the biomedical research engine that drives a large part of our state's economy, Boston economy, the state's economy, even part of the national economy," Anderson added. "This environment helps us to attract the best talent and biotech industries to the Commonwealth and builds off of our legacy of scientific firsts dating back to the 1800s."
Sperling, a longtime physician-investigator in neurology at Mass General Brigham, told legislators about her personal mission to identify new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease through clinical trials.
“My grandfather died of Alzheimer's disease and my father died of Alzheimer's disease,” Sperling said. “I take care of patients with Alzheimer's, and part of what I try to do is ensure that my daughters and their daughters don't have to worry about Alzheimer's disease by bringing the amazing science that people are working on in the lab into the clinic.”
Ruvkun, who was named co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his paradigm changing discovery of microRNA in C. elegens worms, said that recent advancements in gene sequencing and the availability of large genomic databases makes it possible to identify connections across species that could lead to new insights in human health.
“When we make a discovery about our genetics in a little worm, it instantly connects to what’s been done in plants and what’s been done in bacteria. While it takes a lot of skill to engage these databases, they are incredibly useful,” Ruvkun said. “That’s sort of where the new frontier [of discovery] is.”
Maus, program director for Cellular Immunotherapy at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, shared her excitement about the potential of cell-based therapies to be extended to conditions beyond cancer.
“My focus has been on cancer, but one of the amazing things about being here and in this ecosystem is that we have experts across all of these diseases,” Maus said. “We can talk to each other and think about how we can manipulate cells, and replace cells, or give cells as a therapeutic agent to treat a wide variety of human afflictions.”
Navigating Uncertainty
To connect these dots and take advantage of the resources available in this ecosystem, however, they need secure sources of research funding and opportunities to communicate with experts from across the globe, the researchers said.
All three said changes to federal immigration policies had caused unease among lab members, leading them to reconsider planned trips to conferences outside the United States.
“There's a lot of travel involved in science, both domestic, national and also international,” Maus explained. “Sometimes they're big meetings, sometimes they're intimate meetings, but they require crossing borders.”
Concerns about immigration policy also emerged when talking about recruiting the next generation of science leaders.
“We are very fortunate to not only attract the best and brightest from here, but from around the world, and they are helping us in part of this mission,” said Sperling. “So, to the degree we can help protect that, I think that's a wonderful thing that state legislators could work on.”
The investigators also addressed the challenges of working in an uncertain funding environment, noting that many projects are multi-year efforts that researchers hope to see through from start to finish.
“Many of these people who I get to work with are so incredibly motivated," Maus explained. "They often have deep personal histories of a family member with cancer or with a disease that they've had to cope with in some way. When there's so much uncertainty, it's very demoralizing.”
Moving Forward Through Unity
Despite these challenges, there is still plenty of reason for hope, the investigators said. The key to moving forward will be recognizing that despite any individual differences we may have, we are all facing a common enemy—disease.
“At the end of the day, we're all going to be patients of something someday,” said Maus. "That affects all of us, and we all have families and loved ones. It's not about fighting each other, it's about trying to all live our best lives.”
Anderson echoed that message of unity in his closing, telling legislators that the integration process across MGB has been key to helping the system navigate instability.
"[Integration] combines knowledge from the most brilliant minds in science, removes barriers to collaboration and streamlines resources," Anderson said. "So we've been able to weather the difficulties that we've faced, and we're continuing to deliver on our promise in research."
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