New RO1 grant awarded to Giovanni Ligresti
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 […]
Winner of the First Annual Kayla Bell Citizenship Award
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 […]
New model reveals early steps in ILD
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 epithelial cells instruct T cells and adaptive immunity
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 […]
Recent Awards for Trainees
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 […]
Jay Mizgerd named Jerome S. Brody, MD, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine
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 […]
New Research Identifies Signals Controlling Goblet Cells in the Lung
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 […]
Antibodies Produced in the Lung Can Prevent Respiratory Infections from Becoming Severe
Only a small subset of people who get a lung infection go on to become very sick yet who will become severely ill or why is unclear. This is now widely recognized in the context of COVID-19, where most people have mild or no illness while others with the same infection become extremely sick or […]
BUSM Awarded $4.1M to Support the Next Generation of Trail-blazers in Multidisciplinary Lung Science
BUSM’s longest NIH-funded research training program, “Biology of the Lung: A Multi-Disciplinary Program,” has been awarded a five-year, T32 grant to provide multidisciplinary training and exposure to collaborative lung biology in three scientific areas that are special strengths at Boston University: Development and Regenerative Medicine; Immunology and Infection; and Biomedical Data Sciences. This renewal means […]
Do lottery strategies work to boost COVID vaccination?
COVID-19 has caused a tragic loss of life and well-being. The rapid development, testing, and distribution of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 is an incredible biomedical accomplishment. Some people choose not to receive vaccines that are available to them, increasing risk for them and others around them. As an attempt to overcome such vaccine hesitancy, multiple US […]