As director of the MIT BioMicro Center (BMC), Stuart Levine ’97 wholeheartedly embraces the range of challenges he tackles every day. Certainly one of over 50 core facilities providing shared resources across the Institute, the BMC supplies integrated high-throughput genomics, single-cell and spatial transcriptomic evaluation, bioinformatics support, and data management to researchers across MIT.
“On daily basis is a special day,” Levine says, “there are at all times recent problems, recent challenges, and the technology is constant to maneuver at an incredible pace.” After greater than 15 years within the role, Levine is grateful that the breadth of his work allows him to hunt solutions for thus many scientific problems.
By combining bioinformatics expertise with biotech relationships and a concentrate on maximizing the impact of the middle’s work, Levine brings the broad range of skills required to match the variety of questions asked by researchers in MIT’s Department of Biology.
Expansive expertise
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 earning his PhD in biochemistry from Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital, Levine returned to MIT for postdoctoral work with Professor Richard Young, core member on the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
Within the Young Lab, Levine found his calling as an informaticist and ultimately decided to remain at MIT. Here, his work has a wide-ranging impact: the BMC serves over 100 labs annually, from the the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; Chemical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; and, after all, Biology.
“It’s a fun option to take into consideration science,” Levine says, noting that he applies his knowledge and streamlines workflows across these many disciplines by “truly and deeply understanding the instrumentation complexities.”
This depth of understanding and experience allows Levine to guide what longtime colleague Professor Laurie Boyer describes as “a state-of-the-art core that has served so many faculty and provides key training opportunities for all.” He and his team work with cutting-edge, finely tuned scientific instruments that generate vast amounts of bioinformatics data, then use powerful computational tools to store, organize, and visualize the information collected, contributing to research on topics starting from host-parasite interactions to proposed tools for NASA’s planetary protection policy.
Staying ahead of the curve
With a scientist directing the core, the BMC goals to enable researchers to “take the perfect advantage of systems biology methods,” says Levine. These methods use advanced research technologies to do things like prepare large sets of DNA and RNA for sequencing, read DNA and RNA sequences from single cells, and localize gene expression to specific tissues.
Levine presents a light-weight, clear rectangle concerning the width of a mobile phone and the length of a VHS cassette.
“It is a flow cell that may do 20 human genomes to clinical significance in two days — 8 billion reads,” he says. “There are newer instruments with several times that capability available as well.”
The overwhelming majority of research labs don’t need that sort of power, however the Institute, and its researchers as a complete, actually do. Levine emphasizes that “the ROI [return on investment] for supporting shared resources is amazingly high because whatever support we receive impacts not only one lab, but the entire labs we support. Keeping MIT’s shared resources on the bleeding fringe of science is critical to our ability to make a difference on the planet.”
To remain at the sting of research technology, Levine maintains company relationships, while his scientific understanding allows him to teach researchers on what is feasible within the space of recent systems biology. Altogether, these attributes enable Levine to assist his researcher clients “push the bounds of what’s achievable.”
The person behind the machines
Each core facility operates like a small business, offering specialized services to a various client base across academic and industry research, based on Amy Keating, Jay A. Stein (1968) Professor of Biology and head of the Department of Biology. She explains that “the PhD-level education and scientific and technological expertise of MIT’s core directors are critical to the success of life science research at MIT and beyond.”
While Levine clearly has the education and expertise, the success of the BMC “business” can also be partially as a consequence of his tenacity and concentrate on results for the core’s users.
He was recognized 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 leadership of the BMC truly invaluable to the MIT community is his unwavering dedication to producing high-quality data and his steadfast persistence in tackling any kind of troubleshooting needed for a project. These attributes, fostered by Stuart, permeate all the culture of the BMC.”
“He puts researchers and their research first, whether providing education, technical services, general tech support, or networking to collaborators outside of MIT,” says Noelani Kamelamela, lab manager of the BMC. “It’s all in service to users and their projects.”
Tucked into the far back corner of the BMC lab space, Levine’s office is a fitting symbol of his humility. While his guidance and knowledge sit at the middle of what elevates the BMC beyond technical support, he himself sits away from the highlight, resolutely supporting others to advance science.
“Stuart has at all times been the person, often behind the scenes, that pushes great science, ideas, and other people forward,” Boyer says. “His knowledge and advice have truly allowed us to be at the vanguard in our work.”
