News & Spotlights
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... More
BUSM Awarded $4.1M to Support the Next Generation of Trail-blazers in Multidisciplinary Lung Science
We are so pleased that “Biology of the Lung: A Multi-Disciplinary Program” has been renewed! The current cycle is funded for five years, from July 1, 2021 until June 30, 2026. This T32 grant provides multidisciplinary training in collaborative lung biology and pulmonary medicine research, in three scientific areas that... More
Antibodies Produced in the Lung Can Prevent Respiratory Infections from Becoming Severe
Researchers in the Pulmonary Center, led by Dr. Jay Mizgerd, have discovered that after recovering from a respiratory infection, new B cells get deposited in lung tissue, persist there, and then become antibody secreting cells very quickly if the lungs get infected again later by something similar. They showed that... More
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... More
Recent Awards for Trainees
Congratulations to these Pulmonary Center trainees who were recently successful in receiving extramural training awards: Claire Burgess Ph.D. Student, Mentor: Darrell Kotton NIH F31 Predoctoral Fellowship Award "Generation of human alveolar epithelial type I cells from pluripotent stem cells" Senegal Carty Ph.D. Student, Mentor: Matt Jones American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship Award “Pulmonary Lymphatic Endothelial Cell Remodeling in... More
2021 ATS Awards
Justin Lui, M.D. Pulmonary Fellow, Mentor: Klings/Wiener 2021 ATS Ziskind Clinical Research Scholar Award "The Ziskind Clinical Research Scholar Award is an ATS Scholarship Award that honors pulmonary and critical care fellows engaged in clinical research. The award was named after Morton Ziskind, MD, a highly respected clinician-researcher from Tulane University who died... More
PhD Candidate Kiloni Quiles-Franco Featured in Podcast Interview
Kiloni Quiles-Franco is a PhD candidate in the labs of Felicia Chen MD in the Pulmonary Center and Evan Johnson PhD in the Division of Computational Biomedicine at Boston University School of Medicine. Kiloni is engaged in a number of on- and off-campus initiatives focused on equity and inclusion, such... More
New ways to attack necrotic tuberculous granulomas in the lung
Approximately one quarter of all humans have been infected during their lifetime with Mycobacterium tuberculosis - the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB). Most of the infected people control the bacteria that remain dormant for many years. In some individuals, however, the bacteria grow in the lungs, causing severe lung damage, More
Dr. O’Connor and the New Asthma Guidelines
George O’Connor, MD, MS, a Pulmonary Center faculty member and associate editor of JAMA, and Stephanie Lovinsky-Desir, MD, MS from Columbia University, wrote an editorial (1) in the December 8, 2020 issue of JAMA on a new update to the NIH asthma guidelines (2) that was also published in that... More
Actionable Lung Cell Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Infection
Teams from Pulmonary Center Faculty members Andrew Wilson and Darrell Kotton (and collaborators) recently published exciting new findings about how alveolar epithelial type 2 cells respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection! "Briefly, we found that there are changes to cellular proteins (the proteome and phosphoproteome) that occur as soon as 1 hour after... More