Marsha Moses

Marsha A. Moses is an American physician who is the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital. Her research considers the biochemical mechanisms that are responsible for tumor growth and progression. She is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Early life and education
Moses was born in Boston. She was an undergraduate student at Stonehill College, graduating in 1975. Moses earned a doctorate at Boston University. Her research considered control of the phosphodiesterase by an endogenous modulator in the prostate.

Research and career
Moses studies the mechanisms that underpin angiogenesis during tumor progression. Angiogenesis describes the process by which tumors recruit their own blood vessels. In the absence of angiogenesis, tumors remain dormant, but can become active and grow if they are influenced by certain genes. Moses has investigated what regulates these cancer-promoting genes, and the molecular-level differences between dormant and active tumors. She focused on triple-negative breast cancer, cells of which release extracellular vesicles that cross the blood–brain barrier and promote brain metastases. Moses demonstrated that obesity could cause tumors that were previously dormant to restart angiogenesis. She has shown that a tumor-specific CRISPR gene editing system could be used to stop the growth of triple-negative breast cancer.

Moses has developed multiple tools for theranostics; apparatus capable of both diagnostics and therapeutics. She has identified several inhibitors of tumor formation that function at the transcriptional and translational level.

Moses created initiatives focused on proteomics and biomarker discovery at Boston Children's Hospital. Her urinary proteomics initiative realized sensitive, specific, non-invasive tests for cancer. She developed a human sample repository to uncover non-invasive biomarkers for human cancers.

Awards and honors

 * Elected to the National Academy of Medicine
 * Elected to the National Academy of Inventors
 * Elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering
 * Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
 * Elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 * American Association for Cancer Research-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Lectureship
 * Gregory Pincus Medal