Mary Bartlett Bunge
Mary Bartlett Bunge (born 1941) is a distinguished American neuroscientist currently researching a cure for paralysis at University of Miami, where she is a Professor of Cell Biology. Bunge was born in a time where women were still in separate spheres from men and limited by society to domestic life. She challenged these expectations set by society and followed her passion for science, becoming an inspirational role model for women today. Early life. Mary Bartlett was born on April 3, 1931 in New Haven, Connecticut to George Chapman Bartlett and Margaret Elizabeth Reynolds Bartlett. Her father built  and renovated houses, including the house in which she grew up, whereas her mother worked as a painter and decorator. Neither of her parents had a college education, and her father thought that a college education was useless for women. Their careers were filled with an artistic expression that Mary found appealing. After her grandmother taught her how to sew, she expressed herself through art and fashion by designing and making all of her own clothes with the ultimate dream to be a fashion designer in New York City. She strongly considered this career in fashion design, but eventually decided  her art interests could just be hobbies. She was also interested in the sciences from a very young age, even though it was not considered a traditional option for women at the time. She developed this passion for biology when she was exploring the stream near her home in her leaky little row boat. She observed the tadpoles swimming around her and questioned how they developed into frogs. Unlike her art interests, she knew that in order to pursue her childhood passion for biology, she would need to acquire a higher education. Education. Mary Bartlett made the first step towards  this higher education when she attended Simmons College in Boston to become a laboratory technician. This defied expectations for women at the time as the 1950s female college student was encouraged to marry, start a family, and put an end to her education. Only about a third of the women who entered college during the decade actually graduated. Only ten percent of working women entered a profession during this time. They instead settled for the traditional employment in secretarial, clerical, nursing, teaching, assembly lines, and domestic service, which were considered appropriate for women. Despite these statistics, Mary persevered, and at  the end of her junior year at Simmons College, she was inspired to further her education while attending a program at Jackson Memorial Laboratory, where she witnessed a rabbit's heart contract in a tissue culture. This instance triggered the realization that she did not want to be a lab tech; she wanted to do research, so when she graduated from Simmons College in 1953, she accepted the invitation to graduate school at University of Wisconsin Medical School from Dr. Robert Schilling. He was a professor in the Department of Medical Physiology who offered Mary a research assistantship position when  she was studying to obtain her master's degree. They researched intrinsic factor, which is lacking from the gastric juices when one has the condition of pernicious anemia and cannot absorb vitamin B12. Their research had a clinical relevance that influenced her later research to be focused toward clinical applications. This work was the basis of her thesis, which allowed her to graduate with her master's degree in medical physiology in 1955. There was implicit bias in society that women were not competent enough to excel in the science profession, so they were not always taken seriously when  trying to attain this goal. Mary noted that Dr. Schilling was an exception to this and was an outstanding mentor to her. He helped set the high standards for her manuscripts when she was initially getting published. Women at the time struggled to get their work published because of the gender discrimination. When the author listed was a female name, people tended to reject the paper or not even read it, so women had to use their initials. Then, the author could not be labeled male or female, and the women had a better chance for equal evaluation of the  work. While studying for her doctorate at University of Wisconsin Medical School, Mary worked in the Zoology Department with Dr. Hans Ris, who she also regarded as an outstanding mentor. She was grateful for his willingness to advise a young woman as she faced the extra challenges simply due to her gender. She noted that both of her two mentors, Dr. Schilling and Dr. Ris, greatly shaped and benefited her future. They were able to be gender blind when others could not and treated her as just another graduate student. With their support, she successfully graduated with her doctorate in  1960. Personal life. While at the University of Wisconsin, Mary met a medical student named Richard Bunge, whom she married and shared her personal life as well as her career. They graduated together and moved to Columbia University to begin their post-doctorate research. Soon after settling in, the family doubled with the addition of two sons, Jonathan, born in 1962, and Peter, born in 1964. Since women perform most of the caregiving in society, they face more challenges than men in pursuing high level positions while balancing the family responsibilities. Bunge faced these challenges head on and was able  to continue her career while attending to her motherhood responsibilities, but not without sacrifices. To balance family and work life, Bunge worked part-time for eight years as a Research Associate at Columbia University. It would have been too much for her to prepare lecture and teach on top of her research schedule and raising her sons, so she placed her tenure-track faculty member dream on hold. In 1970, the family moved to accept faculty positions at Washington University School of Medicine. She chose to be a Research Assistant Professor rather than be on the tenure-track so she  could continue raising her sons, who were still young. Instead, she adjusted to a full-time schedule. By 1974, she had started to teach and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure. She was promoted again in 1978 to Professor. She was grateful for the quality of environment at Washington University, which made it possible for her to continue her career while being a part of her children's lives. Research. Richard also enriched Mary's life by introducing her to neuroscience, where she found her purpose and focused her research on while at Washington University School of Medicine. In  particular, she focused on researching Schwann cells, which are cells that wrap around the axon of neurons to form the myelin sheath as an insulator to the neuron and to increase the speed impulses are conducted. One of her other major discoveries was that the oligodendrocyte was the cell that made the myelin sheath for the central nervous system. She first discovered this when she examined a section of a kitten's spinal cord in an electron microscope with the oligodendrocyte cell body forming myelin at each end. She also demonstrated that myelin could be reformed in the mature mammalian  spinal cord, which has an important clinical relevance in addressing Multiple Sclerosis and spinal cord injuries, where the myelin has been damaged. Since 1989, Bunge has been a leading part of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at University of Miami School of Medicine, where her research on myelin has been implemented. Her husband was invited to be the scientific director of the project, so she was able to work with him there, and when he died in 1996 from esophageal cancer, she took his place at the forefront of the project. This was a common way for women of  this era to acquire leading roles in projects. Women used the careers of their husbands to gain access to the resources to further their own careers, and when they died, the women were able to take their place, avoiding possible gender discrimination. The project Bunge took over tests regeneration strategies that could lead to successful treatment of spinal cord injury. She has the patent in “Schwann Cell Bridge Implants and Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors to Stimulate CNS Nerve Regeneration” from 2009 for the application of restoring function after a central nervous system injury. She has dozens of other patents including "Methods and  Systems for Neural Maintenance and Regeneration," "Promoters of Neural Regeneration," and "Phosphodiesterase 4 Inhibitors for Cognitive and Motor Rehabilitation." Her research is now being used for phase one of clinical trials, which gained approval from the FDA in 2012, to evaluate the safety of transplanting the Schwann cells of recently paralyzed patients into the site of their injury. Phase 1 of the clinical trial is the testing of the safety and efficacy of this technique. Each participant's own Schwann cells are obtained from sural nerve biopsy, which is above the ankle. By obtaining these cells from the participants, there  is minimal concern for immune rejection. The cells are then purified and processed in a culturing facility to generate the number of cells necessary to be transplanted into the injury site. This cell therapy is combined with an intense exercise and rehabilitation regiment over ten months for the trial. The participants are to be monitored for 5 years. So far, Phase 1 has shown promising results as millions of Schwann cells have been successfully transplanted into four subjects with no adverse effects. While the trial has been occurring, Bunge has been working on other combination treatments for future clinical trials . In 2014, she published in the Journal of Neuroscience the promising results of a strategy tested in rat Schwann cells that were engineered to secrete the growth factor D15A and the enzyme Chondroitinase ABC which alters scar composition. This combination lead to more axonal regeneration and functional improvement. Bunge is extremely dedicated to her work, and although she considered retiring in 2010, she has remained in the lab to see through the success of the clinical trial. Honors. Bunge has been a professor of cell biology, neurological surgery, and neurology at the University of Miami for 26 years now and  has accumulated significant recognition for her research. In 1996, she received the Wakeman Award for Spinal Cord Repair. She is a three time recipient of the Javitis Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. She was the elected Chair of the Development of Women's Careers in Neuroscience Committee through the Society for Neuroscience from 1994 - 2002. In 2000, she received the Mika Salpeter Women In Neuroscience Lifetime Achievement Award for her leadership in advancing the careers of women in neuroscience. In 2001, she received the Christopher Reeve Research Medal for Spinal Cord Repair. She  received the Christine E Lynn Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience Award in 2003 and the Lois Pope LIFE International Research Award in 2005. Her culminating recognition is being elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, which is an extraordinary honor that indicates the extent of her professional achievement and commitment to service in health and medicine. Just last year, she was named a Health Care Hero by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce.