BUSM Receives NIH Award to Use Immune Cell Memory to Study Lung Viruses

BUSM researchers have received a grant award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to use immune cell “memory” to study the history of all the viruses that reside in or pass through a person’s lungs.  The initial two-year $565K award is designed to develop and refine tools and to test proof-of-principle, which if successful will proceed to a second stage, three-year, $2.4 million award.

The project brings together multiple investigators from the fields of immunology, virology, lung biology, cell and molecular biology and computational biology. Led by co-Principal Investigators are Thomas Kepler, PhD, Microbiology and Mathematics & Statistics, Rachel Fearns, PhD, Microbiology, and Joseph P. Mizgerd, ScD, Medicine, Microbiology, Biochemistry and Director of the Pulmonary Center, they will collaborate with other BU faculty in Microbiology and the Pulmonary Center as well as with Harvard/Brigham & Women’s Hospital and the Sun Health Research Institute in Arizona.