As director of the MIT BioMicro Middle (BMC), Stuart Levine ’97 wholeheartedly embraces the number of challenges he tackles every day. One among over 50 core services offering shared sources throughout the Institute, the BMC provides built-in high-throughput genomics, single-cell and spatial transcriptomic evaluation, bioinformatics assist, and information administration to researchers throughout MIT. The BioMicro Middle is a part of the Built-in Genomics and Bioinformatics core facility on the Robert A. Swanson (1969) Biotechnology Middle.
“Each day is a distinct day,” Levine says, “there are all the time new issues, new challenges, and the know-how is continuous to maneuver at an unbelievable tempo.” After greater than 15 years within the position, Levine is grateful that the breadth of his work permits him to hunt options for therefore many scientific issues.
By combining bioinformatics experience with biotech relationships and a give attention to maximizing the affect of the middle’s work, Levine brings the broad vary of expertise required to match the range of questions requested by investigators in MIT’s Division of Biology and Koch Institute for Integrative Most cancers Analysis, in addition to researchers throughout MIT’s campus.
Expansive experience
Biology first appealed to Levine as an MIT undergraduate taking class 7.012 (Introduction to Biology), because of the charisma of instructors Professor Eric Lander and Amgen Professor Emerita Nancy Hopkins. After incomes his PhD in biochemistry from Harvard College and Massachusetts Common Hospital, Levine returned to MIT for postdoctoral work with Professor Richard Younger, core member on the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Analysis.
Within the Younger Lab, Levine discovered his calling as an informaticist and in the end determined to remain at MIT. Right here, his work has a wide-ranging affect: the BMC serves over 100 labs yearly, from the the Pc Science and Synthetic Intelligence Laboratory and the departments of Mind and Cognitive Sciences; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Chemical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; and, in fact, Biology.
“It’s a enjoyable manner to consider science,” Levine says, noting that he applies his data and streamlines workflows throughout these many disciplines by “really and deeply understanding the instrumentation complexities.”
This depth of understanding and expertise permits Levine to steer what longtime colleague Professor Laurie Boyer describes as “a state-of-the-art core that has served so many school and gives key coaching alternatives for all.” He and his staff work with cutting-edge, finely tuned scientific devices that generate huge quantities of bioinformatics information, then use highly effective computational instruments to retailer, arrange, and visualize the info collected, contributing to analysis on subjects starting from host-parasite interactions to proposed instruments for NASA’s planetary safety coverage.
Staying forward of the curve
With a scientist directing the core, the BMC goals to allow researchers to “take the perfect benefit of techniques biology strategies,” says Levine. These strategies use superior analysis applied sciences to do issues like put together massive units of DNA and RNA for sequencing, learn DNA and RNA sequences from single cells, and localize gene expression to particular tissues.
Levine presents a light-weight, clear rectangle in regards to the width of a cellphone and the size of a VHS cassette.
“This can be a movement cell that may do 20 human genomes to scientific significance in two days — 8 billion reads,” he says. “There are newer devices with a number of occasions that capability accessible as effectively.”
The overwhelming majority of analysis labs don’t want that form of energy, however the Institute, and its researchers as a complete, actually do. Levine emphasizes that “the ROI [return on investment] for supporting shared sources is extraordinarily excessive as a result of no matter assist we obtain impacts not only one lab, however the entire labs we assist. Protecting MIT’s shared sources on the bleeding fringe of science is crucial to our potential to make a distinction on this planet.”
To remain on the fringe of analysis know-how, Levine maintains firm relationships, whereas his scientific understanding permits him to teach researchers on what is feasible within the area of recent techniques biology. Altogether, these attributes allow Levine to assist his researcher shoppers “push the boundaries of what’s achievable.”
The person behind the machines
Every core facility operates like a small enterprise, providing specialised companies to a various shopper base throughout educational and trade analysis, based on Amy Keating, Jay A. Stein (1968) Professor of Biology and head of the Division of Biology. She explains that “the PhD-level schooling and scientific and technological experience of MIT’s core administrators are crucial to the success of life science analysis at MIT and past.”
Whereas Levine clearly has the schooling and experience, the success of the BMC “enterprise” can also be partly as a consequence of his tenacity and give attention to outcomes for the core’s customers.
He was acknowledged by the Institute with the MIT Infinite Mile Award in 2015 and the MIT Excellence Award in 2017, for which one nominator wrote, “What makes Stuart’s management of the BMC really invaluable to the MIT group is his unwavering dedication to producing high-quality information and his steadfast persistence in tackling any kind of troubleshooting wanted for a mission. These attributes, fostered by Stuart, permeate your complete tradition of the BMC.”
“He places researchers and their analysis first, whether or not offering schooling, technical companies, common tech assist, or networking to collaborators exterior of MIT,” says Noelani Kamelamela, lab supervisor of the BMC. “It’s all in service to customers and their initiatives.”
Tucked into the far again nook of the BMC lab area, Levine’s workplace is a becoming image of his humility. Whereas his steerage and data sit on the middle of what elevates the BMC past technical assist, he himself sits away from the highlight, resolutely supporting others to advance science.
“Stuart has all the time been the individual, usually behind the scenes, that pushes nice science, concepts, and folks ahead,” Boyer says. “His data and recommendation have really allowed us to be at the forefront in our work.”
