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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
Lymph node-ably stunning. ✨ This stunning image c Lymph node-ably stunning. ✨ This stunning image captures the hidden beauty of a lymph node in all its complexity, revealed through ten-color confocal microscopy, bringing its highly organized architecture to life in vivid detail. This image, taken by Lukas Altenburger, PhD, from the Lab of Thorsten Mempel, MD, demonstrates how the researchers are studying how T cells move through the body and communicate with other immune cells. This work helps uncover how our immune system responds to infection and cancer, and how those insights could lead to new therapies.
Check out a day in the life of Yoonjae Song, a res Check out a day in the life of Yoonjae Song, a research technician in the lab of Roy Perlis, MD, MSc, at the MGB Center for Genomic Medicine! The Perlis lab team focuses on predicting treatment response and creating new therapies to treat psychiatric disorders.
Friday was Match Day🎉 At Match Day last week, the Friday was Match Day🎉 At Match Day last week, the next generation of physicians found their path, and many are beginning it at Mass General Brigham. Matching here isn’t just a milestone; it’s a gateway to advancing medicine, where clinical care and groundbreaking research go hand in hand. From day one, these trainees from Harvard Medical School, along with many others, will be part of discoveries that shape the future of health.
Paging the 90s 📼 Some things may look a bit retr Paging the 90s 📼 Some things may look a bit retro, but the impact was anything but.
Few people really know what the thymus is—but it m Few people really know what the thymus is—but it might be one of the most important organs for how we age. For decades, scientists thought the thymus (a small organ that helps train your immune system) basically stopped being of any importance after puberty, but as it turns out, they might be completely wrong. New research from Mass General Brigham used AI to analyze thousands of CT scans and found that adults with healthier thymuses lived longer, had a lower risk of heart disease and a lower cancer risk. And it doesn’t stop there. In cancer patients, thymus health was also linked to how well people responded to immunotherapy, one of today’s most promising cancer treatments. Check out what Hugo Aerts, PhD, study author, director of the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine (AIM) Program at Mass General Brigham, and Professor at Harvard Medical School, has to say in this video.
There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow, but there sure is some golden research happening 🌈 In this image, an injured zebrafish tendon (bright orange) stretches upward like it’s chasing a rainbow, rebuilding a brand-new connection (teal-lime green) to bone (deep purple). Unlike humans, zebrafish can naturally regenerate this attachment after injury. Using spatial transcriptomics, researcher Stephanie Tsai, PhD, from the lab of Jenna Galloway, PhD, can create images like this to map exactly where and when hundreds of genes switch on and off during this repair process, revealing the “lucky charm” behind perfect tendon healing.
New experimental therapy shows safety and signals New experimental therapy shows safety and signals of clinical benefit in ALS patients. The investigational therapy, PrimeC, has shown safety and early signals of clinical benefit in people living with ALS. The findings come from the PARADIGM study, led by teams from @massgeneralbrigham Neuroscience Institute and Barrow Neurological Institute and @harvardmed. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that leads to muscle weakness and loss of motor function. PrimeC, an oral therapy, targets multiple processes that contribute to ALS progression. “The importance of following up on potential therapies that can slow the course of ALS is extraordinarily high for patients and families," said study author Merit Cudkowicz, MD, MSc. "We are determined to accelerate the development of therapies for people living with ALS." Read more at the link in our bio.
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.
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