Archive: 2017

Congratulations to Associate Professor Yang Jin for receiving an R33 grant from the NIH on “Development of the RNA molecule-enriched, cell type-specific exosomes”! An exciting opportunity to define new ways of intercellular communication in the lung.

Congratulations to faculty members John Berk, Jeff Berman, John Bernardo, Hap Farber, Fred Little, George O’Connor, Art Theodore, Helen Hollingsworth and Stephen Pelton for being named Top Docs by Boston Magazine

Assistant Professor Laertis Ikonomou and colleagues discussed the role of medical societies in global efforts to counteract the marketing of unproven stem cell interventions in a Cytotherapy paper.

Faculty members Hasmeena Kathuria and Renda Wiener and colleagues defined an important research agenda in an Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement, “Stakeholder Research Priorities for Smoking Cessation Interventions within Lunch Cancer Screening Programs.”

Professor Darrell Kotton and colleagues published a paper in Development illuminating the ways in which common progenitor cells can be differentially towards lung or thyroid fates.  Journal publication regarding “Pluripotent Stem Cell Differentiation reveals distinct developmental pathways regulating lung-versus thyroid-lineage specification”

Professor Avi Spira will help to lead a “dream team to intercept cancer,” with support from the nonprofit Stand Up To Cancer.  As recently reported in the Boston Globe and elsewhere, this will be a $16.6 million program to investigate new ways of halting lung and pancreatic cancers in the early stages.

Congratulations also to Associate Professor Art Theodore, for winning a 2018 Evans Clinician Award from the Department of Medicine. The Evans Clinician Award recognizes and celebrates outstanding clinical prowess manifested in expert clinical skills, extensive medical knowledge, and exemplary doctor-patient relationships.

Congratulations to Professor Jay Mizgerd on winning the 2018 Research Mentoring Award from the Department of Medicine. The Research Mentoring Award recognizes those who have best mentored trainees and faculty in the technical and scholarly skills required for a successful career in laboratory, clinical, or population-based investigation.

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Hasmeena Kathuria on her new ALA grant to study smoking cessation measures in the hospital setting.

Assistant Professor Matt Jones and colleagues reported the discovery of a new lung cell-type in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.  They found that a subset of cliiated cells in the airways express the Piwi protein MIWI2, and these cells regulate immune functions including neutrophil recruitment and bacterial elimination during pneumonia.

Professor Darrell Kotton and colleagues report in a Cell Stem Cell paper the effective in vitro differentiation of human stem cells into functioning lung alveolar epithelial cells.  A long-standing goal of development and regenerative medicine accomplished!

An R61/R33 from the NIH was awarded to Professor Jay Mizgerd, Professor Tom Kepler, and Associate Professor Rachel Fearns to elucidate the lung virome. They will use B cells from human lungs as a tool to determine which viruses exert the most immunological pressure in the lower respiratory tract.

Alicia Wooten, a PhD student being mentored by Professor Jay Mizgerd, gave a presentation on her perspectives as a scientist-in-training who happens to be deaf at the March for Science in Boston.

Congratulations to Professor David Center for receiving the 2017 Breathing for Life Award from the ATS Foundation. This award is the highest honor conferred by the ATS Foundation for philanthropy, presented to individuals demonstrating consistent support for the foundation’s research agenda, inspiring philanthropic activity from others, advocating for the support of young pulmonary investigators, and raising awareness of respiratory disease.

Congratulations to Professor David Center for receiving the 2017 Breathing for Life Award from the ATS Foundation. This award is the highest honor conferred by the ATS Foundation for philanthropy, presented to individuals demonstrating consistent support for the foundation’s research agenda, inspiring philanthropic activity from others, advocating for the support of young pulmonary investigators, and raising awareness of respiratory disease.

Professor Darrell Kotton and colleagues report in a Cell Stem Cellpaper the best ways yet to differentiate induced pluripotent stem cells into human airway cells and even organoids with characteristics of lung tissue. These new strategies have promise for modeling pulmonary diseases and screening drugs for purposes of personalized medicine or discovering new therapeutic approaches.

New faculty recruitment: Newly appointed as Assistant Professor of Medicine, Markus Bosmann will be moving his thriving research enterprise from the University of Mainz in Germany to our Pulmonary Center in the winter of 2017. Dr. Bosmann studies the molecular mechanisms of pulmonary immunity and inflammation, particularly during ARDS, pneumonia, sepsis, and pulmonary fibrosis.

New faculty recruitment: Newly appointed as an Associate Professor of Medicine, Jason Rock will be moving his thriving research enterprise from UCSF to BU’s Pulmonary Center and Center for Regenerative Medicine in summer of 2017. Dr. Rock studies the roles of stem and progenitor cells in lung development and lung repair after injury.

Associate Professor Lee Quinton received an R01 grant from the NIH to study liver-lung interactions during pneumonia. The proposed studies will determine whether and how transcriptional responses in hepatocytes help prevent ARDS, disseminated infection, and liver failure during severe respiratory infection.

Professor Jay Mizgerd received an Outstanding Investigator Award from the NHLBI, providing nearly 6 million dollars over 7 years to study the biology of pneumonia. This is the first time that the NHLBI has provided this type of award, designed to support an ongoing research program being led by an accomplished investigator rather than a single distinct research project.

Assistant Professor Allan Walkey received an R01 grant from the NIH to study atrial fibrillation during sepsis. After discovering how important it is to sepsis outcomes, Dr. Walkey is now generating and testing automated systems for detecting and predicting atrial fibrillation in the ICU.