This year, researchers in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School continued to illuminate biological phenomena, deepen understanding of disease mechanisms, inform the development of new therapies, and otherwise help solve challenges in science, medicine, and health care.
The vibrancy of the HMS community — including our affiliated hospitals and collaborators in the greater Boston academic and biotechnology industry — inspires this critical research and propels it forward to improve the lives of people worldwide.
Here are the 10 basic science, social science, and clinical research stories that most captured readers’ attention across our own channels and in the news media.
In a First, Genetically Edited Pig Kidney Is Transplanted Into a Human
The milestone procedure, conducted by HMS physician-scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and based on research by HMS geneticists, raised hopes about improving and saving lives amid human organ shortages and reducing health disparities associated with organ failure and transplantation.
“The success of this transplant is the culmination of efforts by thousands of scientists and physicians over several decades,” said Tatsuo Kawai, professor of surgery. “Our hope is that this transplant approach will offer a lifeline to millions of patients worldwide who are suffering from kidney failure.”
Does AI Help or Hurt Human Radiologists’ Performance? It Depends on the Doctor
A study led by HMS researchers with colleagues at MIT and Stanford University showed that AI boosts performance for some radiologists but worsens it for others — underscoring the importance of personalizing assistive AI tools rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach.
“We find that different radiologists, indeed, react differently to AI assistance — some are helped while others are hurt by it,” said co-senior author Pranav Rajpurkar, assistant professor of biomedical informatics.
Published in Nature Medicine.
Resident Physicians’ Exam Scores Tied to Patient Survival
Researchers illuminated the extent to which new doctors’ test performance reflects how well their patients do — finding that higher scores on the board certification exams are linked to lower odds of patients dying or being readmitted to the hospital.
“These results confirm that certification exams are measuring knowledge that directly translates into improved outcomes for patients,” said senior author Bruce Landon, professor of health care policy.
Published in JAMA.
A New Artificial Intelligence Tool for Cancer
A model that analyzes features of a tumor’s microenvironment marked a major step forward in supporting diagnosis, guiding treatment choice, and predicting survival across multiple cancer types, as well as expediting the identification of patients not likely to benefit from standard treatments used in some cancers.
“Our ambition was to create a nimble, versatile ChatGPT-like AI platform that can perform a broad range of cancer evaluation tasks,” said study senior author Kun-Hsing Yu, assistant professor of biomedical informatics.
Published in Nature.
The Surprisingly Simple Recipe for Starting to Grow a Limb
In a first, scientists identified the proteins needed to kick-start limb formation in mice and chicks — deepening our understanding of evolution and embryonic development and contributing to the long-term goal of regenerating limbs lost to injury and disease.
“It’s important to understand the basic properties of cells that have a therapeutic value,” said study co-first author ChangHee Lee, research fellow in genetics in the lab of co-senior author Cliff Tabin.
Published in Developmental Cell.
Measuring Lung Function More Accurately and More Equitably
As health care providers began to remove race from equations that estimate lung function, an analysis estimated the effects on patients, providers, and policy.
“Our study aims to quantify the impact of using race to define what is normal variation and what is classified as impairment or disease. We found profound clinical, financial, and occupational implications of how race is operationalized in pulmonary function testing,” said first author James Diao, who conducted the research as a fourth-year medical student in the lab of Arjun (Raj) Manrai and is now a resident physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
How Even One Faulty Copy of the BRCA1 Gene Can Fuel Breast Cancer
Research revealed that a single faulty copy of the tumor-suppressor gene BRCA1 is enough to render breast cells more vulnerable to cancer and ignite tumor growth. The results add a twist to the prevailing notion that cancer arises when two mutated copies are present. The finding also offers new clues for prevention.
“Our findings show that the two-hit hypothesis of cancer development offers only a partial explanation,” said study senior author Joan Brugge, the Louise Foote Pfeiffer Professor of Cell Biology.
Published in Nature Genetics.
Why Do Gliomas Tend To Recur in the Brain?
Researchers identified the neurons that connect to these most common brain cancers, offering insights into what drives their formation and spread and providing a foundation for identifying much-needed new treatment strategies to stop them from coming back.
“By unraveling the drivers of glioma-neuron interactions and identifying unique mechanisms, we can explore strategies to interrupt them, potentially stopping the tumors in their tracks and preventing their return,” said first author Annie Hsieh, who conducted the work as a research fellow in the labs of Bernardo Sabatini and Marcia Haigis.
Published in PNAS.
Researchers Harness AI to Repurpose Existing Drugs for Treatment of Rare Diseases
A new AI tool screens existing medicines to identify promising therapies for thousands of diseases, including ones without current treatments. The advance offers renewed hope for patients with rare and neglected conditions and for the clinicians who treat them.
“This is precisely where we see the promise of AI in reducing the global disease burden, in finding new uses for existing drugs, which is also a faster and more cost-effective way to develop therapies than designing new drugs from scratch,” said lead researcher Marinka Zitnik, assistant professor of biomedical informatics.
Published in Nature Medicine.
Evolution Tamed Once-Deadly Western Equine Encephalitis. Should We Still Worry?
Researchers pinpointed how the western equine encephalitis virus lost its ability to infect humans over time, offering important clues for pandemic preparedness.
“This was a real scientific detective story,” said senior author Jonathan Abraham, associate professor of microbiology. “The virus kept surprising us and taught us some important lessons about how to study viruses.”
Published in Nature.
More 2024 highlights
See top 10 interviews from Harvard Medicine magazine and top moments on Instagram.
