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[ultimate_heading main_heading=”Why We Need to Talk About Science” main_heading_color=”#ffffff” main_heading_font_size=”desktop:50px;”][/ultimate_heading]

Did you know that according to a recent survey, at least 27% of Americans are still somewhat skeptical about science?

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital are making amazing discoveries that have the potential to transform science and medicine, but we aren’t always great at telling the public about our work and why it matters.

Through workshops, competitions and community events, we’re committed to helping our researchers find engaging new ways to share their work with the public.

We hope you’ll join us in spreading the word about science and the valuable role it plays in improving healthcare here at Mass General and across the globe.

[ultimate_fancytext fancytext_prefix=”A wise person once said…” fancytext_suffix=”-Albert Einstein” strings_textspeed=”35″ strings_backspeed=”0″ strings_startdelay=”195″ strings_backdelay=”20000″ typewriter_loop=”off” sufpref_color=”#004150″ fancytext_strings=”“You don’t really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.“” strings_font_family=”font_family:Lato|font_call:Lato|variant:300″ strings_font_style=”font-weight:300;” strings_font_size=”desktop:30px;” strings_line_height=”desktop:50px;” fancytext_color=”#00b092″ prefsuf_font_family=”font_family:Lato|font_call:Lato” prefix_suffix_font_size=”desktop:24px;” prefix_suffix_line_height=”desktop:30px;” typewriter_cursor_color=”#000000″ css_fancy_design=”.vc_custom_1581706604869{padding-left: 30px !important;}”]
[ultimate_heading main_heading=”Eight Great Tips for Communicating Science” main_heading_color=”#ffffff” main_heading_font_size=”desktop:34px;”][/ultimate_heading]
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Use Plain Language

Avoid Scientific jargon whenever possible

Plot Your Course

Where are you in the process? Where did you start? Where do you hope to arrive?

Save Time for Questions

Always leave time for your audience to engage with you

Enjoy Yourself

Smile, make eye contact, speak up and have fun!

Start with a Bang

Open with an interesting story or question to grab the audience’s attention

Set the Stage

What is the problem you are trying to solve, and how are you trying to solve it

Explain the Process

What makes your approach unique

Keep it Simple

Focus on a few key points and stick to them

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mgbresearch

Medicine changes lives, research changes the world. @massgeneralbrigham
A galaxy inside your ear ✨👂 These are spiral gang A galaxy inside your ear ✨👂 These are spiral ganglion neurons, the tiny but mighty cells that allow us to hear. Each color marks where they sit (blue = higher, red = lower), revealing the incredible diversity that helps us detect everything from quiet whispers to loud yells. And those glowing fibers stretching to the top right? That’s sound information on the move. Benjamin Tibbetts, a researcher from the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at @Massgeneralbrigham, took and colored this image to help their team understand how hearing works, and what changes when someone is born deaf or loses their hearing. Benjamin works under Principal Investigator Brikha Shrestha, PhD, in the Shrestha Lab at Mass Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School.
Vision loss from retinal disease is one of the big Vision loss from retinal disease is one of the biggest challenges in eye health today, but new research is helping scientists better understand how to protect sight. Anton Lennikov, MD, PhD, a physician‑investigator at the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Mass Eye and Ear, is leading research focused on calming harmful inflammation in the retina and helping it heal. His team studies lab‑grown human retinal tissue that closely mirrors the real human eye, allowing them to see how disease develops and how treatments may work. They are also exploring targeted immune therapies that help quiet damaging immune responses while keeping the eye’s natural defenses intact, along with gentle electrical stimulation that may support retinal cell health and recovery. Read more in the Q&A at mgriblog.org, where Dr. Lennikov explains his innovative research approaches and what these discoveries could mean for the future of vision care.
Five years ago, Karl Helfrich’s world seemed to su Five years ago, Karl Helfrich’s world seemed to suddenly shut down. Karl put his head down on his desk and could not speak coherently. Minutes later, he couldn’t recall what he had said. After a battery of tests, MRI scans revealed a lesion in Karl’s brain, and he was referred to neurosurgeon Antonio Chiocca, MD, PhD, for treatment. After a successful operation and a standard course of chemotherapy and radiation to treat what was now known to be glioblastoma, Karl received an unusual invitation. “I was asked if I wanted to participate in a clinical trial that would use focused ultrasound to disrupt the blood brain barrier,” Karl recalls. Through lab experiments in the BWH Focused Ultrasound Laboratory over the last three decades, researchers have laid a strong foundation of evidence that the combination of FUS and microbubbles could provide a temporary opening in the BBB with the potential to improve treatment outcomes. But clinical trials were needed to know for certain. Karl accepted the trial invitation, and after months of the trial treatments, the team discovered that it worked. “I don’t know whether I’m doing well today because of the surgery, the radiation, the chemotherapy, the focused ultrasound, my genetics, or some combination,” Karl says. “But it was gratifying to see the results and to know that I had helped.”
This Heart Month, we’re highlighting research that This Heart Month, we’re highlighting research that is redefining the future of cardiovascular care. Meet Michael T. Lu, MD, MPH, physician investigator at Mass General Brigham and @harvardmed, Co-Director of the Cardiovascular Imaging Research Center, and a national leader in cardiovascular imaging and AI-driven heart health. Dr. Lu’s work spans advanced cardiac imaging paired with breakthrough machine learning models that help predict long-term health outcomes from medical images. His goal is simple and bold: use imaging and AI to detect risk earlier and improve lives. He also helps lead the NIH-sponsored REPRIEVE, PROACT, and PREEMPT randomized clinical trials, which investigate how statins and other medications can reduce coronary plaque on CT. His recent studies use deep learning to predict heart disease, lung cancer risk, and even longevity from chest x-ray images.
A colorful snapshot of how your brain connects mem A colorful snapshot of how your brain connects memories to appetite 🧠💚 In this image, the bright green cells are part of a newly identified brain circuit that links past experiences, like where you’ve enjoyed a meal before, to how much you want to eat in the present. In a new study, @massgeneralbrigham researchers found that these cells act as messengers between the brain’s memory center and the region that controls appetite, helping translate context into cravings or restraint. When this pathway was disrupted in preclinical models, they were less able to use past experiences to guide their eating and showed increased appetite in unfamiliar settings. The findings suggest that when this memory-to-appetite circuit isn’t working properly, it could contribute to disordered eating and obesity, and may even help explain how some widely used weight-loss medications affect the brain.
A new study from Mass General Brigham suggests tha A new study from Mass General Brigham suggests that ultra-low field (ULF) MRI could one day offer a safer, more comfortable, and lower-cost option for breast cancer screening, without radiation or painful compression. For senior author Matthew Rosen, PhD, this research is deeply personal. After his close childhood friend discovered a lump at age 38, she was told she was too young for a mammogram and advised to wait. By the time she returned for follow-up care, she was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, a devastating delay that revealed critical gaps in access to timely screening. That experience helped inspire Rosen’s work to explore whether the low-cost MRI technologies his team has spent decades developing could be adapted to improve women’s health, potentially making screening more accessible in communities where traditional MRI is too expensive or unavailable. While larger studies are still needed, this early proof of principle lays the groundwork for more equitable breast imaging in the future.
This Heart Month, we’re highlighting research that This Heart Month, we’re highlighting research that is redefining the future of cardiovascular care. Meet Christian Ruff, MD, MPH, a physician senior investigator with the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) Study Group at Mass General Brigham. Dr. Ruff serves as Director of the Genetics Core Laboratory and Clinical Events Committee, where he drives research that informs how clinicians prevent and treat serious cardiovascular conditions. His expertise spans atrial fibrillation, antithrombotic therapy for stroke prevention, and the using genetics to improve risk stratification for cardiovascular disease and identify patients most likely to benefit from specific therapies.
She used to carry a full roll of paper towels ever She used to carry a full roll of paper towels everywhere she went, never knowing when a sudden, severe nosebleed would interrupt her day. Today, she’s back at the gym, sledding with her grandkids and sitting in church without fear. A clinical trial at @MassGeneralBrigham is offering new hope for patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), a rare genetic disorder that can cause chronic bleeding, fatigue, and life-threatening complications, and has no FDA-approved treatments. For Kerry, enrolling in a study of a first-in-class therapy was life-changing. “I cannot overemphasize the importance of clinical trials for many diseases, but specifically in HHT. Clinical trials are an absolute lifeline for these patients. They afford patients the opportunity to receive cutting-edge care that can have a life-changing impact," said Hanny Al-Samkari, MD, a Mass General Brigham hematologist and co-director of the Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia Center of Excellence at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a clinical investigator, Al-Samkari is searching for better treatments for patients like Kerry, everyday through their research efforts.
February is Heart Month, and we’re highlighting th February is Heart Month, and we’re highlighting the hidden systems that help keep the heart healthy. At the Cardiovascular Research Center at Mass General Brigham, researchers Kangsan Roh, PhD, and colleagues captured this image of the lymphatic vessels running through a heart model, visualized using fluorescent staining. Like the body’s sewage system and drainage pipes, these vessels weave through the heart, quietly removing excess fluid and waste and helping to prevent swelling. The colorful network you see here represents a second circulatory system in which lymph, not blood, flows. In reality, these vessels are much smaller than blood vessels, completely colorless, and invisible to the naked eye, yet they form an essential hidden infrastructure that allows the heart to keep beating in a healthy state. When this invisible drainage system fails, the heart slowly becomes clogged with waste and waterlogged as fluid builds up, and over time, inflammation and scarring accumulate until it can no longer do its job properly. In this tiny animal model, we are trying to glimpse the future of the human heart. By carefully mapping the structure and function of the cardiac lymphatic system, this image represents a first step toward finding new ways to treat heart failure, edema, and inflammatory heart disease from a different perspective. Though it cannot be seen from the outside, there is another river of circulation that protects the heart. This image is the researcher's attempt to translate the quiet flow of that hidden river into something the human eye can finally see.
Today we celebrate International Day of Women and Today we celebrate International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and the women at Mass General Brigham who are leading the way. Elisabetta Morini, PhD, an investigator at the Center for Genomic Medicine at Mass General Brigham and Assistant Professor in Neurology at Harvard Medical School, is working on mRNA splicing to advance our understanding of neurological disease. Dr. Morini is also a 2025 Claflin Awards recipient, an award that provides vital support to early‑career women investigators. Dr. Morini reflects on the power of mentorship for women in science, and how throughout her journey, the guidance, advocacy, and support of experienced scientists have shaped and strengthened her career.
Deep sleep starts at the cellular level 🧠 Did you Deep sleep starts at the cellular level 🧠 Did you know that deep sleep is one of the first health points disrupted by the start of Alzheimer's disease? One of the earliest detectable changes of the disease is a weakening of slow oscillation, a deep-sleep brain rhythm that helps restore neural function and clear harmful proteins while we sleep. When this rhythm falters, cognitive decline accelerates. In this microscopic image, green nerve fibers show transplanted stem cell–derived neurons forming new connections in the brain. Using this Alzheimer’s model, researchers integrated these cells into existing circuits to help restore slow oscillations, with the hope of ultimately slowing down Alzheimer's disease. The team's findings suggest that stem cell–based therapies like this one could one day help rescue disrupted sleep rhythms and support brain health in Alzheimer’s disease.
A little army of pickles with a big mission. Ah, A little army of pickles with a big mission. Ah, wait, apparently these are not pickles, they are actually much, much smaller than that. In fact, what we are looking at is Vibrio, a bacteria that can cause cholera in humans. Yeah, I will not be putting that on my sandwich at lunch time... Why are we looking at cholera-inflicting bacteria, you may ask? Because @massgeneralbrigham researchers just completed a phase 1 clinical trial for a single-dose cholera vaccine! Current cholera vaccines often require multiple doses and can be less effective in young children, who are most at risk. This new live-attenuated vaccine, PanChol, was designed to change that—especially in outbreaks and in places where cholera is endemic. With up to 4 million cholera cases worldwide each year, this vaccine could help save many lives. So while these definitely are not the sandwich pickles I was looking for, they could definitely help avoid a pretty sour outcome. 🥒 (Credit: National Institute of General Medical Sciences Image Gallery, Tina Weatherby Carvalho, University of Hawaii at Manoa)
Could patient-derived eye tissue help protect visi Could patient-derived eye tissue help protect vision? Researchers in the Kim Lab at @massgeneralbrigham are using real eye tissue donated by patients to study proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR): a condition that can cause scarring and vision loss after retinal surgery. In this image generated by Jeysson Sanchez-Suarez, PhD, each circle shows a tiny piece of eye tissue growing in the lab. 🔹 On the left, untreated tissue spreads aggressively across the surface. 🔹 On the right, tissue treated with an experimental drug stays contained, showing early signs the treatment may help slow or prevent scarring. There are currently no FDA-approved treatments for PVR. By testing therapies directly on patient-derived samples, the Kim Lab is building a powerful new platform to discover drugs that could one day preserve sight for patients recovering from retinal surgery.
How does AI affect your mental health? 🤖💬 Many A How does AI affect your mental health? 🤖💬 Many AI tools can feel supportive and emotionally present. While this phenomenon, called “relational AI,” may help users reduce loneliness, experts warn it can also carry risks like emotional dependency, addiction, and encouragement to make unsafe decisions. Children and adolescents may be especially at risk. A new article from Mass General Brigham, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, calls for public health safeguards and thoughtful regulation to ensure this technology develops in ways safe and beneficial for society. Read the full publication by Nicholas Peoples, MD, and colleagues at the link in our bio.
What does the future of medical research look like What does the future of medical research look like? đź”® As we turn the page on 2025 and step into a new year of possibilities, we asked leading researchers at Mass General Brigham to share their insights on what the future might hold for science and medicine. From groundbreaking discoveries in AI to transformative innovations in cancer and cardiovascular disease, these experts highlight the scientific advancements that could shape healthcare in 2026. Check out some of their top predictions for scientific breakthroughs and trends expected to make an impact in the coming year.
Wow! Even our neurons in the lab are getting into Wow! Even our neurons in the lab are getting into the holiday spirit this time of year! In this colorful image, human brain cells (green) are exposed to a virus called HSV-1 (red), which sparks a buildup of phosphorylated tau (purple), a protein best known for its role in #Alzheimer’s disease. A new Nature Portfolio Neuroscience study from Mass General Brigham suggests this tau buildup may actually be part of the brain’s natural defense against infection. The researchers found that when neurons are infected, tau changes shape, clumps together, and can latch onto the virus—helping trap it and protect brain cells. What we now think of as harmful in Alzheimer’s may have once helped our brains fight off infections, long before humans lived as long as we do today. “As a geneticist, I always wondered why humans had evolved gene mutations predisposing to Alzheimer’s disease,” said senior author Rudolph Tanzi, PhD. “Our work indicates that many of the features of Alzheimer’s disease that we think of as only pathological from may once have been protective.” Just like how we all transform ourselves into a “new year, new me” (or at least try to), our brains’ needs change over time as well. What once worked may not be as beneficial for us anymore.
Happy holidays from the Mass General Brigham resea Happy holidays from the Mass General Brigham research community to you!
Meet Emma DeMarco, a CRC at Mass General Brigham a Meet Emma DeMarco, a CRC at Mass General Brigham and part of the PETAL Consortium, led by Dr. Salvia Jain. Emma manages the central pathology review and biorepository of PETAL consortium’s specimens, ensuring that the diagnosis aligns with the molecular topography/landscape of the lymphoma. This enables the researchers to understand distinct differences between the DNA that they were born with and the changes in the DNA that led to lymphoma development.
Tiny organ, huge impact on fertility 🔬👀 Did you k Tiny organ, huge impact on fertility 🔬👀 Did you know the immune system may play a major, and often overlooked, role in male infertility? Around 17% of couples struggle to conceive, and male factors account for about half of those cases. In some men, the immune system mistakenly attacks their own sperm, slowing them down or stopping them from working altogether. At Mass General Brigham researchers in the lab of Maria Agustina Battistone, PhD, are uncovering how chronic, silent inflammation in the epididymis (where sperm mature and are stored) can trigger anti-sperm antibodies and damage fertility, often without obvious symptoms. Their discoveries could lead to better diagnoses, new treatments, and even non-hormonal, reversible male contraceptives by targeting sperm after they’re made, not hormones. Science is reshaping how we think about men’s reproductive health. Read the full story at the link in our bio. Slide 1: An epididymis, a tiny but crucial part of the male reproductive system. The clusters of anti-sperm antibodies are shown in green. They are surrounded by immune cells, shown in pink. This is an example of the mechanisms that contribute to immune-related male infertility. Slide 2: Mouse sperm as seen through a scientist's microscope. Slide 3: The Battistone Lab members.
How can we help the immune system speak more clear How can we help the immune system speak more clearly to fight bladder cancer? In the Garris Lab, postdoc Sepideh Parvanian, PhD, is studying the tiny “messages” immune cells send inside tumors, and how those messages can be boosted to help the body fight back. "By uncovering how these immune interactions unfold within the tumor microenvironment, we aim to develop next-generation dendritic cell therapies and targeted delivery systems that strengthen antitumor immunity and overcome the immunosuppressive barriers of bladder cancer," said Dr. Parvanian. The team is focusing on signals that help activate key immune cells so they can better alert and train T cells, the body’s natural cancer fighters. By understanding this communication network, the group hopes to design new therapies that make the immune system stronger and more effective against bladder cancer. Blue shows nucleus, red is pSTAT-1 and green is E-cad. This photo was originally taken by Juhyun Oh, PhD.
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