2012 News

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER NEWS

Daniele Cary’s poster wins 1^st place at Evans Day

Congratulations to Daniele Cary for receiving 1^st place in the Basic Research Poster Presentations for the Department of Medicine’s Evans Day, October 5, 2012.

Caroline Genco is Recipient of Department of Medicine Award

Congratulations to Caroline Genco, who was awarded the “Life Time Achievement Award for Research and Science” from the Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine at the Department of Medicine Centennial Celebration on October 6, 2012.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER NEWS

Fearns Article Chosen as Featured Research in PLoS Pathogens

Congratulations to Rachel Fearns, whose paper entitled “The Respiratory Syncytial Virus Polymerase has Multiple RNA Synthesis Activities at the Promoter” was chosen as a Featured Research article by PLoS Pathogens.

Robin Ingalls Awarded an R01 from NIH

Congratulations to Robin Ingalls who was awarded an R01 from the NIAID, NIH for her work on the “Role of Chlamydia Species in Preterm Birth and Placental Dysfunction.” The funding period is 07/01/2012-06/30/2017.

 2012 Microbiology Retreat Pictures

Everyone had a great time at this year’s Microbiology retreat “Making Novel Links” at Thompson Island! Click Micro Retreat 2012 Pictures to view the pictures.

Paul, Elke and Ron Participated in TWiV 200

Paul, Elke and Ron participated in This Week in Virology (TWiV 200), talking about the NEIDL and BSL-4 research.

link: http://www.twiv.tv/2012/09/23/twiv-200-threading-the-neidl/

Barb Nikolajczyk Awarded R56 From NIH

Congratulations to Barbara Nikolajczyk, who was awarded an R56 award from the NIDDK, NIH for work on “The Role of Lymphocytes in Diet-Induced Metabolic Disease.” Funding period is 9/1/12-8/31/13. 

Dr. Nikolajczyk Presented at the Obesity Society’s 30^th Annual Scientific Meeting

Dr. Barbara Nikolajczyk presented a talk entitled, “B Lymphocytes are Master Regulators of a Pro-Inflammatory T Cell Balance in Obesity and Glucose Intolerance” a the Obesity Society’s 30^th Annual Scientific Meeting, in San Antonio, Texas

Sept. 17 Micro-ID Seminar: Structure and Assembly of the Poxvirus Virion

Richard C. Condit, Ph.D. from the University of Florida  is presenting a seminar entitled, “Structure and Assembly of the Poxvirus Virion” on Monday, September 17, at 12:00 noon in L504 as part of the Microbiology-Infectious Diseases Seminar Series.

This Week in Virology (TWiV#200)

TWiV is a podcast – or netcast, as some prefer to call them, since you don’t need an iPod to listen – about viruses.  It was begun in September 2008 by Vincent Racaniello and Dick Despommier, two science Professors at Columbia University Medical Center.  Their goal was to have an informal yet informative conversation about viruses which would be accessible to everyone, no matter what their science background.  Alan Dove, a science writer, Rich Condit, a poxvirologist and Kathy Spindler, an adenovirologist, joined the team and are regular contributors.

The 200^th edition of TWiV will be filmed in  NEIDL and will be available for download from www.twiv.tv Sunday 23^rd Septemember 2012.

If you have any questions for the panel you can send them to Vincent Racaniello at twiv@twiv.tv.

We see this as a great opportunity to showcase the benefits NEIDL brings to BU, Boston and the wider scientific community nationally and encourage you to view the netcast and contribute to the discussion. 

JULY/AUGUST NEWS

Subunit Vaccine for Nipah and Hendra Viruses Shows Protection

Nipah and Hendra viruses are newly recognized zoonotic paramixoviruses that have resulted in numerous outbreaks in Australia and Southeast Asia, and are highly lethal in humans. In a recent study published in Science Translational Medicine, Katharine Bossart and colleagues report that a vaccine using a soluble viral G glycoprotein afforded complete protection again Nipah virus challenge in a nonhuman primate model, bolstering support for human clinical trials. See commentary in Science.

Kepler Participation in 2012 International Workship on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology

Dr. Thomas Kepler has been invited to participate in the 2012 International Workshop on Bioinformatics and Systems Biology which will be held at Boston University’s Life Science and Engineering Building on July 22-26.

Fadie Coleman is Awarded NRSA Fellowship

Congratulations to Fadie Coleman who was awarded a National Research Service Award Predoctoral Fellowship from NHLBI for her work on the Influence of Macrophage NF-kB Activation on the Outcome of Pneumococcal Pneumonia.

Dr. Thomas Kepler is Computational Biology SRSC Leader for CHAVI-ID Program

Dr. Thomas Kepler is directing the Computational Biology Scientific Research Support Component for the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology-Immunogen Design (CHAVI-ID) program, which was just awarded this week by the NIH to Bart Haynes at Duke.

Krishna Moody is Awarded NRSA Fellowship

Congratulations to Krishna Moody who was awarded a National Research Service Award Predoctoral Fellowship from NIAMS for his work on the Modulation of Autoantigen Trafficking and TLR Engagement by FcgRIIB and AP3BI.

Dr. Kepler Lecture at 2012 Summer School on Computational Immunology at University of Rochester Symposium

Dr. Thomas Kepler lectured at the 2012 Summer School on Computational Immunology at the University of Rochester on “Agent-based Models Applied to Affinity Maturation and the Germinal Center Reaction.” This lecture can be viewed here: : http://imcportal.org/education/video/thomas-kepler-agent-based-models-applied-to-affinity-maturation-and-the-germinal-center-reaction.

Dr. Kepler Presentation at University of Rochester Symposium

Dr. Thomas Kepler presented a talk on “Affinity Maturation via Computational Biology” at the Symposium on Modeling Immune Response from Complex Data, at the University of Rochester. His presentation can be viewed here: http://imcportal.org/education/video/thomas-kepler-affinity-maturation-via-computational-biology.

APRIL-JUNE NEWS

Chadene Tremaglio is the 2012 Corwin Award Winner

Congratulations to Chadene Zack Tremaglio, the 2012 Corwin Award recipient.  The Corwin Award recognizes a student who exemplifies the characteristics of an outstanding departmental “citizen.” Values of collegiality, scientific integrity, commitment to scientific endeavor, and active participation in departmental activites are all components taken into account when the selection of the Corwin Award recipient is made. These values best epitomize the contributions of Dr. Larry Corwin, a former member of the Microbiology Department for whom the award is named.

Dr. Oberhaus wins Teaching Award from the Dental School

Congratulations to Dr. Stephanie Oberhaus who is the recipient of a Spencer N. Frankl Award for Excellence in Teaching at Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine. This is the highest honor awarded by Dental Medicine and we are all extremely proud of Stephanie’s accomplishments!

Martin Ludlow to attend Herrenhausen Symposium on Viral Pathogenesis

Dr. Martin Ludlow, postdoctoral fellow in the Duprex Lab, is one of only 10-15 people who were selected to attend the Herrenhausen Symposium on Viral Pathogenesis on June 4-7, 2012, in Kloster Seeon, Seeon, Germany.  It is quite an honor to be selected to attend this meeting, and the invited speakers at this symposium are all world renoun experts in the viral pathogenesis world.  Congratulations, Martin!

2012 Russek Award Winners

Congratulations to the following Microbiology graduate students who won Russek Student Achievement Awards:

1^st Prize – Laura Dickey (Fearns Laboratory)

2^nd Prize – Erin Hodges (Connor Laboratory)

Honorable Mention – Chadene Zack Tremaglio (Fearns Laboratory)

Mechanism of HIV Spread has Potential for Future Drug Therapy

A new understanding of the initial interactions of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and dendritic cells is described in research led by Dr. Wendy Puryear, a postdoctoral fellow in the Gummuluru lab.  This recent study is featured in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Too Dangerous to Publish? Apr 26 Viglianti Live Chat on Science Live

Dr. Gregory Viglianti was asked to participate in “Science Live: A Weekly Chat on the Hottest Topics in Science” on April 26.  The discussion topic was “Too Dangerous to Publish?”

Krishna Moody accepted to attend Gordon Research Conference