Feb. 29, Leap Day, is also Rare Diseases Day, and Marina K. Holz, Ph.D., M.P.H. — dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBMS) and professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College (NYMC) in Valhalla – will spend it poring over grant proposals for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a peer reviewer. Holz knows all about the NIH and such grants. At the medical college, she leads an NIH-funded laboratory in fascinating research into a rare disease affecting women of child-bearing age – research that has far-ranging implications.
Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare lung disease afflicting 3.4 to 7.8 out of every one million women – ultimately creating holes in the lungs and possibly requiring a lung transplant. The disease almost never strikes men. Indeed, Holz said she has seen only one or two men with it. That’s because LAM, while not actually cancer, has certain factors in common with breast cancer, namely being driven by the female hormone estrogen. Slow-growing and metastatic, LAM worsens during pregnancy and lessens in menopause, Holz said.
LAM is also caused by two genetic mutations – TSC1 and TSC2 – that spur certain kinds of cancers, including breast and lung cancers. The immunosuppressive drug Rapamycin, approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in May 2015 for kidney-transplant patients, can slow the progression of the disease. But not all LAM patients respond to Rapamycin, which can have such side effects as mouth sores, gastrointestinal discomfort and sugar imbalance, specifically hyperglycemia (high blood sugar).
“That’s why it’s important to continue researching to see if there are other drugs to slow the disease or cure it,” she added.
But Holz – who holds a Master of Public Health degree in health policy and administration from New York Medical College as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology and immunology with great distinction from McGill University in Montreal and a Ph.D. in cell and developmental biology from Harvard Medical School – is not only at work on LAM in the laboratory; she’s meeting with LAM patients in focus groups to understand what they need from the research to survive and thrive. Once LAM had a 10-year survival rate. Now LAM patients can look forward to living for decades, said Holz, chair of the scientific advisory board of the LAM Foundation, executive editor of Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Reviews on Cancer and a member of the editorial boards of the journals Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Molecular Basis of Disease and Nature Communications Biology.
Holz – who is also the 2024 fellow for the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB), its highest honor – has always loved science.
“I was always very good at science,” she said. “I love its logic and that it can be applied in creating ways to help others.”
It is not, however, an exclusive interest. There’s ancient history – “just give me a book on Mesopotamia,” she said – and there’s literature, though she acknowledged the cliché of the scientist in love with science fiction, something she shares. Her favorite novel is the Booker Prize-winning “The Blind Assassin” (2000) by Margaret Atwood – better known as the author of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which along with its Hulu iteration has become a prescient touchstone in our postfeminist age.
Taking a different approach to the oppression of women and set in Ontario, Canada, 90 years ago, “The Blind Assassin” unfolds as a nesting doll of stories that includes a romance and science fiction. But one discipline outshines the others.
“My passion is to promote the careers of women in science…so the next generation won’t have to struggle to achieve,” said Holz, a mentor in several diversity initiatives organized by the National Research Mentoring Network, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the American Society for Cell Biology. “This is not to say that we should select only for certain groups. That’s where the divisiveness comes in,” she added, referring to the backlash against DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives in academia and the corporate world.
Holz knows the challenges of being a woman in the sciences, with women making up only 34% of the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) workforce. That’s why, she said, she concentrates on helping women. Other groups have other interests.
But, she added, if all these groups work together, they can bring a rich variety of backgrounds and perspectives to the sciences, which depend on innovating thinking.
The more diverse those perspectives, Holz said, “the better off we will be as a community.”
For more, visit nymc.edu.
Marina K. Holz, Ph.D., M.P.H., is dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBMS) and professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College. Dr. Holz is the driving force behind all areas of research within the Graduate School— including basic, translational and clinical research discoveries.
Dr. Holz received her B.Sc. in Microbiology and Immunology with Great Distinction from McGill University, completed her Ph.D. in Cell and Developmental Biology at Harvard Medical School, and received M.P.H in Health Policy and Administration from New York Medical College. At NYMC, Dr. Holz leads an NIH-funded laboratory studying the mechanisms of signaling by hormones and growth factors in breast cancer and lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)—a rare lung disease. Her work spans basic science and clinical applications, and has been published in leading journals and continuously funded by federal and private grant agencies.
Dr. Holz is the chair of the scientific advisory board of the LAM Foundation, executive editor of BBA Reviews on Cancer, and member of the editorial boards of Nature Communications Biology and BBA-Molecular Basis of Disease. In her laboratory, she is a dedicated mentor to students and the next generation of laboratory scientists and has served as a mentor in several diversity initiatives organized by the National Research Mentoring Network, the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and the American Society for Cell Biology.
