When my tech-savvy brother told me about MCPs 6 months ago as a way to improve my Rheumatology question bank, I listened. He gave me the example below (conveniently stoking my ego).
The Email
My brother’s prompt: "Cite every pubmed paper that lists "Alison Bays" as an author. Analyze and explain her field of research. Add any additional notes of interest.
Claude’s response: I need to clarify something important: I don't have direct access to PubMed or any scientific database that would allow me to search for and cite all papers by a specific author. My knowledge about scientific publications comes from my training data (which has a cutoff in October 2024), and I cannot perform real-time searches of academic databases.
For an author named "Alison Bays," I don't have specific information about publications or research fields associated with this name in my knowledge base. This could be because:
The researcher may have published after my knowledge cutoff
The researcher might publish under a different name variation
The researcher might work in a specialized field with limited publications
Or there might not be a prominent researcher with this exact name in PubMed
To get a comprehensive list of publications by Alison Bays, you would need to:
Search PubMed directly (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/)
Use academic search engines like Google Scholar or Scopus
Check institutional websites where she might be affiliated
These approaches would give you the most accurate and up-to-date information about her publications and research focus.
Response after enabling PubMed MCP: Based on my search of PubMed publications, I've identified and analyzed 20 publications authored or co-authored by Dr. Alison Bays (listed as "Bays A" or "Bays AM" in the publications). From these papers, I can provide a comprehensive analysis of her research focus and interests.
Primary Research Focus: Rheumatology with Emphasis on Vasculitis
Dr. Alison Bays is a rheumatology researcher with a strong focus on specific areas within rheumatology:
1. Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA) Research
The most prominent research area in Dr. Bays' publication history is Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA), a form of vasculitis that affects medium and large arteries, primarily in older adults. Her work on GCA includes:
Diagnostic Techniques: Multiple publications focus on improving ultrasound evaluation for GCA diagnosis, including investigating which specific arteries (temporal, axillary, subclavian, and common carotid) should be included in protocols to improve diagnostic accuracy.
Clinical Complications: Research on anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (AION) in GCA patients, which can lead to blindness, studying risk factors and characteristics associated with this serious complication.
Treatment Approaches: Investigation of treatment delays for tocilizumab therapy in GCA patients and likely other aspects of therapeutic management.
Fast-Track Clinic Development: Pioneering work establishing protocols for fast-track clinics using vascular sonographers in the United States to expedite GCA evaluation and diagnosis.
And it goes on.
What is an MCP?
An MCP is an acronym for Model Context Protocol. It gives your AI a way to communicate with external services. In this case, I set Claude up with a PubMed MCP so Claude can access published medical literature. In this way, Claude can help build questions that rely on published articles in rheumatology rather than web searches or uploads. Though I can upload PDFs of articles to help create questions, we still need good distractor questions that are rooted in medical knowledge and limit hallucinations.
MCP vs API
An API is an acronym for Application Programming Interface and it allows software interactions. However, it is older and not designed for the current AI landscape. MCPs are specifically designed for large language models, LLMs, to interact with other programs. MCPs are like universal adapters and wrap around APIs to make it easier for AIs to interface with other software.
How do I find an MCP?
Here’s a link to find MCPs, there are a number for PubMed as well as other programs: https://smithery.ai/search?q=pubmed
How do I add an MCP?
It’s gotten much easier to add MCPs in Claude in the past few months. Once, in Claude desktop, you go to settings, then choose “connectors” at the top and then “add custom connectors” at the bottom. You then enter the “remote MCP server URL” and give it a name.
If you are new like me and get tripped up, you can always ask Claude or your favorite AI program to help you troubleshoot!
Happy connecting!