Mass General Research Institute

The Mass General Brigham Academic Medical Centers Psychiatry Department is thrilled that Dr. Hermioni L. Amonoo, MD, MPP, MPH, was recognized today by the Biden Cancer Moonshot as a new member of the Cancer Moonshot Scholars. The funding will allow her to evaluate the impact of phone-delivered psychosocial support in stem cell transplantation survivors for improving anxiety and depression symptoms. Dr. Amonoo is also the Carol C. Nadelson, MD Endowed Chair in Psychiatry at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Director of the Well-Being and Cancer Research Program, and Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. Please congratulate Dr. Amonoo for this wonderful achievement.

In a newly published study, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital found Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp), a bacteria that can lead to serious infections, in the gut of 81% of healthy adults and 61% of children in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Along with this, the researchers also found that 9% of stool and 16% of the water samples were drug-resistant, which means that the bacteria have adapted to survive antibiotics, making infections harder to treat. As resistance spreads, even routine infections could become difficult to manage, underscoring the need for careful antibiotic use and ongoing research on how resistance develops and spreads in the community. "We need more public health and research work to address the problem of antimicrobial resistance," states Regina Larocque, MD, MPH, senior author of the study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Read the study: https://lnkd.in/gTwN-MFD

Matt Rosen, PhD, of the Mass General Research Institute is turning the memory of his friend Christina into action. He’s on a mission to create a portable, affordable MRI tool for early breast cancer detection—aiming to overcome the limits of x-ray mammograms and make life-saving screenings accessible to all. #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

Sunset helipad views. #MassGeneralMonday 📷: SventheRN, nurse with Boston MedFlight

In a newly published study, researchers from The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have demonstrated the power of precise genome editing to correct disease-causing mutations in stem cells from patients with X-linked chronic granulomatous disease (X-CGD), a rare disorder that leads to recurrent infections and inflammation. This collaborative effort, led by scientists at NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and MGH, shows how innovative adenine base editors—a cutting-edge #CRISPR technology—can effectively correct mutations in the CYBB gene responsible for X-CGD. The method achieved a 3.5x increase in efficiency compared to earlier approaches and with minimal off-target effects, offering hope for more targeted and safer treatments. “We’re excited about the use of base editing to directly correct mutations since this approach is distinguished from traditional gene therapies that overexpress a corrective gene,” said Ben Kleinstiver, PhD. Read more: https://lnkd.in/g6U4ENwm #Genomics #GeneEditing #RareDisease #XCGD #ScienceInnovation #CRISPR #MassGeneral #NIH

PAMless Base Editors Correct X-CGD Mutation Efficiently and Precisely This work was borne out of a longstanding collaboration between the laboratories of Suk See De Ravin, MD, PhD, a senior research physician and chief of the gene therapy development unit at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and Ben Kleinstiver, PhD, an investigator at the Center for Genomic Medicine and department of pathology at Mass General Hospital.

Inspired and motivated by the memory of a friend who passed away after being diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer, the center's Matthew Rosen, PhD, is working to develop a portable, inexpensive MRI-based screening tool that could improve early detection, address the limitations of x-ray mammography and make life-saving screenings more available to all. More here: https://lnkd.in/eRn7zkaD

In a new study published in NEJM Group's New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from Mass General Brigham found that a gene therapy for Cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CALD), a rare progressive, genetic brain disease, showed long-term benefits for patients. CALD is a rare progressive, genetic brain disease that primarily presents in young boys, causing loss of neurological function and ultimately leading to early death. Six years after treatment with the first gene therapy approved for CALD, 94 percent of patients have had no decline in neurological functioning, with over 80 percent remaining free of major disability. “Cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy is a devastating brain disease that strikes children in the prime of their childhood and development,” said Florian Eichler, MD, director of the Leukodystrophy Clinic in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, first author of the paper on long-term outcomes. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gQWyZsBm

Start using your brain! We know you have a smart one. Have you submitted a research image to the MGRI Image Awards yet? Time is running out! ⌛ Submit an image before the 10/31 deadline. Learn more: https://buff.ly/3Y4yh5x (Photo: Stimulated-echo diffusion MRI of in vivo brain by Iman Aganj, PhD)

On October 16, 1846, Mass General hosted the first successful public demonstration of ether as a surgical anesthetic. This groundbreaking event is commemorated each year as a significant milestone in our hospital’s history. The Ether Dome painting by Warren and Lucia Prosperi depicts the groundbreaking moment when ether was first used as an anesthetic, marking the beginning of pain-free surgery and forever changing the field of medicine. Unveiled in 2000, the painting honors this historic event in the very room where it took place. #EtherDay