Housing the research portfolio of the Section's faculty and trainees, the Pulmonary Center is a collaborative group of investigators generating a unified effort to combat lung disease
Joseph Kaserman, MD Assistant Professor My award is from the Alpha-1 Foundation and is a 2-year Research Grant award from the foundation. The Title of the proposal is “Mechanisms of Hepatic Heterogeneity and ATF6 Mediated Metabolic Dysfunction in AATD.” In this proposal we are investigating mechanisms that could be contributing to the increased risk of […]
Dr. Ligresti has been awarded an NIH/NHLBI RO1 grant ($2.8M) to study the role of the pulmonary vasculature in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). IPF is a progressive and fatal disease of aging that causes scar tissue to build up in the lung, leading to respiratory failure. Although the lungs of IPF patients […]
In the spirit of Kayla’s thoughtful and eager generosity, we have established a Kayla Bell Pulmonary Center Citizenship Award. This award will be an occasion to celebrate and commemorate the time that Kayla shared with us, bestowed annually to a member of the Pulmonary Center who most embodies Kayla’s kind and helpful manner. Congratulations to […]
Pulmonary fibrosis involves relentless progressive scarring of the lung. Its poorly understood pathogenesis, due in part to a paucity of productive disease models, hampers clinical advancement for interstitial lung disease (ILD). Assistant Professor Kontantinos Alysandratos and Professor Darrell Kotton have made a major advance in this arena by recapitulating early events in […]
Lung immunity is essential to combat all pulmonary diseases, including COVID-19, pneumonia, lung cancer, asthma and COPD. Lung immunity differs from the systemic immunity which is the normal focus of biomedical investigations and interventions, but factors influencing the establishment and regulation of lung immunity are mostly still unknown. Jay Mizgerd's lab team, led by postdoc […]
Congratulations to these Pulmonary Center trainees who were recently successful in receiving extramural training awards: (Featured left to right) Eduardo Nunez, MD Fourth Year Fellow Mentor: Renda Wiener NIH NCI F32 - Determining organizational structures and processes that improve lung cancer screening adherence among underserved populations, effective 9/15/21 LUNGevity Foundation Health Equity and Inclusiveness Research Fellow […]
We are so pleased that Joseph P. Mizgerd, ScD, was named the inaugural Jerome S. Brody, MD, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine. On Sept. 14, colleagues, friends and family gathered in a ceremony held both in-person and over Zoom to witness the installation and to celebrate the contributions of Drs. Brody and Mizgerd to the BU […]
Associate Professor Bob Varelas and colleagues have discovered that goblet cell numbers in the airways are governed by Yap and Taz transcription factors. Because goblet cells and the mucus they produce are excessive in many chronic lung diseases (such as COPD, asthma, and cystic fibrosis), this new understanding of the signaling pathways determining goblet cell […]