2025 Outstanding Student Achievement Award: PhD Research Category
Todd W. Dowrey ’25
PhD in Molecular & Translational Medicine, Program in Biomedical Sciences
Dowrey matriculated into the PhD Program in Biomedical Sciences (PiBS) in 2020 before transitioning to the Department of Molecular and Translational Medicine (MTM) following his first rotation year.
He currently works in the lab of Assistant Professor of Medicine George Murphy, PhD, who co-founded the Boston University and Boston Medical Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM). Dowrey first joined the lab as a technician prior to beginning his PhD.
Dowrey’s research centers on understanding healthy aging by studying centenarians, or individuals who live over 100 years, by developing a human stem cell-based model of resiliency. He studies how cells produced from centenarian subjects respond to stress and insult and how these responses may be different and more effective than cells produced from a typical ager.
“We believe centenarians provide the blueprint to living longer, healthier lives due to not only their extended lifespan, but their extended healthspan, or years of life lived without disability, age-related disease, or cognitive decline,” Dowrey said.
This research works to address the limited amount of access and biomaterial available for collection and characterization from exceptional agers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, accessing this older population was significantly more challenging due to safety concerns.
“The team responsible for coordinating these collections, led by [Professor of Medicine Tom Perls, MD, MPH, FACP, founding director of the New England Centenarian Study], did an amazing job navigating these restrictions and connecting with these participants in a thoughtful way while keeping their safety the top priority,” Dowrey said.
Using a stem cell-based approach has allowed Dowrey and his fellow labmates to generate a renewable source of biomaterial to use for a variety of current and future projects.
Dowrey, who was a pioneer student for the Murphy Lab’s projects on aging, has successfully defended his dissertation, “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Based Modeling of Resiliency: Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms of Exceptional Longevity.” He will officially graduate in May 2025.
Looking ahead, Dowrey hopes to continue his research on regenerative medicine and healthy aging as he finishes his PhD and explores industry science positions in the field.
“Stem cell-based models are an area of high interest for their potential in regenerative medicine and the modeling of aging-related disease,” Dowrey said. “I plan to remain in these fields and work toward advancing our understanding of aging-related disease and hopefully develop therapies aimed at combatting these diseases and improving our resiliency.”
We featured Todd in a 2024 Student Spotlight article. Todd’s work with the Murphy Lab was also featured in a 2024 article by The Brink.