{"id":3346,"date":"2022-02-09T13:15:31","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T18:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/?page_id=3346"},"modified":"2026-07-06T10:56:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T14:56:01","slug":"dissertation-library","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/research\/dissertation-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Dissertation Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our last decade has included the following PhD dissertations, some of the exciting academic accomplishments from students and mentors of the Pulmonary Center:<\/i><\/h4>\n

2026<\/h2>\n

Gabrielle Grifno<\/strong>
\nDeveloping and Utilizing the Crystal Ribcage Platform to Probe Respiratory and Circulatory Functions of the Lung From Whole Organ to Single Alveolus in Helath and Disease
\nMentor: Hadi Nia<\/p>\n

Roberty Lebourdais<\/strong>
\nTitle
\nMentor: Hadi Nia<\/p>\n

Yewoo Lee<\/strong>
\nTitle
\nMentor: Katrina Traber<\/p>\n

Carly Merrit<\/strong>
\nGain-of-function Toxicity in Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficient Type 2 Alveolar Epithelial Cells
\nMentor: Andrew Wilson<\/p>\n

Linzheng Shi<\/strong>
\nLung-resident immunity governs early pneumonia defense revealed by paracorporeal crystal ribcage<\/a>
\nMentor: Hadi Nia<\/p>\n

2025<\/h2>\n

Kevin Hayes<\/strong>
\nImpacts of endogenously expressed, heterozygous Nuclear Factor Kappa B Subunit 1 variants on complicated common variable immune deficiency<\/a>
\nMentor: PJ Maglione<\/p>\n

Jhonatan Henao Vasquez<\/strong>
\nLung airway MIWI2 expressing multiciliated cells and influenza A pathogenesis<\/a>
\nMentors: Matt Jones and Alan Fine<\/p>\n

Erik Matson
\n<\/strong><\/span>Molecular and immunological mechanisms of B cell activating factor-driven B cell dysregulation in CVID<\/a>
\nMentor: PJ Maglione<\/p>\n

Riley Pihl
\n<\/strong><\/span>Neutrophils respond with pathogen-specific defenses during bacterial pneumonia<\/a>
\nMentor: Katrina Traber<\/p>\n

Nathan Sanders<\/strong>
\nAnimal models for investigating coronavirus heterotypic immunity<\/a>
\nMentors: Joseph Mizgerd and Mohsan Saeed
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

Kara Vasilew<\/strong>
\nPolyphosphates interfere with the host immunity in Legionella infection<\/a>
\nMentor: Markus Bosmann<\/p>\n

2024<\/h2>\n

Senegal Carty
\n<\/strong>Pulmonary lymphatic remodeling in response to influenza-induced inflammation<\/a>
\nMentors: Matt Jones and Alan Fine<\/p>\n

Carina Cheng\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThe Roles of YAP\/TAZ signaling in Immune Responses
\nMentor:<\/p>\n

Jake Le Suer\u00a0<\/strong>
\nSMAD signaling in early foregut development and the basal cell program: mechanisms driving lung competence and airway maintenance <\/a>
\nMentors: Finn Hawkins and Xaralabos Varelas<\/p>\n

T\u00e1chira Pichardo
\n<\/strong>Deciphering the immune contexture of premalignancy in a murine model of lung squamous cell carcinoma<\/a>
\nMentor: Sarah Mazzili<\/p>\n

Addie Matschulat<\/strong>
\nUnderstanding the roles of the Hippo pathway kinases LATS1\/2 in the lung epithelium<\/a>
\nMentor: Bob Varelas<\/p>\n

Taylor Matte
\n<\/strong>Investigating the role of NKX2-1 in human lung development<\/a>
\nMentor: Finn Hawkins<\/p>\n

Kiloni Quiles<\/strong>
\nEpithelial remodeling and microbial dysbiosis in the lower respiratory tract of vitamin A-deficient mouse lungs<\/a>
\nMentor: Felicia Chen<\/p>\n

Arjun Sharma<\/strong>
\nImmunity in the context of pathogens: Elucidating the complexity of host defense response mechanisms
\nMentor: Markus Bosmann<\/p>\n

2023<\/h2>\n

Claire Burgess<\/strong>
\nGeneration of human alveolar epithelial type I cells from pluripotent stem cells<\/a>
\nMentor: Darrell Kotton
\nMolecular & Translational Medicine<\/p>\n

Neelou Etesami<\/strong>
\nDynamics and functions of protective lung B cells after pneumococcal infection<\/a>
\nMentor: Joseph Mizgerd
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

Bibek Thapa<\/strong>
\nCell state changes during compensatory lung regrowth following pneumonectomy<\/a>
\nMentor: Darrell Kotton
\nMolecular & Translational Medicine<\/p>\n

Alex Ysasi<\/strong><\/ds-truncatable><\/p>\n

The role of the immune microenvironment in conducting airway epithelial homeostasis and repair<\/a>
\nMentor: George Murphy<\/div>\n

2022<\/h2>\n

Mike Breen<\/strong>
\nExtravascular B cell populations in the influenza A virus experienced lung<\/a>
\nMentors: Rachel Fearns and Joseph P. Mizgerd
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

Carolina Lyon De Ana<\/strong>
\nNovel subsets of resident lymphocytes in murine lungs recovered from pneumococcal pneumonia<\/a>
\nMentor: Joseph P. Mizgerd
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

Elim Na<\/strong>
\nThe cytoprotective effects of leukemia inhibitory factor during bacterial pneumonia<\/a>
\nMentor: Lee J. Quinton
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Christine Odom<\/strong>
\nLiver-dependent lung remodeling during systemic inflammation alters responses to secondary infection<\/a>
\nMentor: Lee J. Quinton
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

2021<\/h2>\n

Emad Arafa<\/strong>
\nRecovery from pneumococcal pneumonia remodels the pool of alveolar macrophages<\/a>
\nMentor: Joseph P. Mizgerd
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Kim Barker<\/strong>
\nThe establishment and function of lung resident memory B cells after bacterial respiratory infection<\/a>
\nMentor: Joseph P. Mizgerd
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Becker<\/strong>
\nDerivation of airway epithelium transcriptomic signatures of COPD phenotypes<\/a>
\nMentor: Katrina Steiling
\nBioinformatics GRS PhD<\/p>\n

Julia Hicks-Berthet<\/strong>
\nRoles for YAP and TAZ in Lung Epithelial Biology<\/a>
\nMentor: Bob Varelas
\nBiochemistry PhD<\/p>\n

Xu Ke
\n<\/strong>Airway Gene Expression Alterations in Association with Radiographic Abnormalities of the Lung<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics MD\/PhD<\/p>\n

Nathan Kingston<\/strong>
\nRoles for Hippo effectors TAZ and YAP in cancer and fibrosis<\/a>
\nMentor: Bob Varelas
\nBiomedical Sciences (PiBS) PhD<\/p>\n

Xingyi Shi<\/strong>
\nBronchial Gene Expression Associated with Airway Premalignancy and Lung Cancer Subtypes<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

2020<\/h2>\n

Yuliang (Leon) Sun<\/strong>
\nThe role of ATP binding cassette A3 (ABCA3) in health and disease using pluripotent stem cell-derived type II alveolar epithelial cells<\/a>
\nMentor: Darrell Kotton
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Jiarui Zhang<\/strong>
\nGenomic biomarker development to impact clinical management of patients at risk for lung cancer<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

2019<\/h2>\n

Anant Balijepalli<\/strong>
\nDesign, synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of a cationic poly-amido-saccharide towards biocompatible nucleic acid delivery<\/a>
\nMentor: Mark Grinstaff
\nBiomedical Engineering PhD<\/p>\n

Sean Corbett
\n<\/strong>Approaches for identifying lung cell type responses to perturbation<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

Yuri Kim
\n<\/strong>Liver-dependent protection during pneumonia and sepsis<\/a>
\nMentor: Lee J. Quinton
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

George Kwong
\n<\/strong>Induced pluripotent stem cell reporter systems for smooth muscle cell sheet engineering<\/a>
\nMentor: Darrell Kotton
\nBiomedical Engineering PhD<\/p>\n

Timothy Norman<\/strong>
\nOrigin and maturation of the pulmonary lymphatic endothelium<\/a>
\nMentor: Alan Fine
\nPathology PhD<\/p>\n

Alicia Wooten<\/strong>
\nPneumococcal phosphodiesterase 2 mutation elicits a unique type I interferon response in macrophages<\/a>
\nMentor: Joseph P. Mizgerd
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

2018<\/h2>\n

Julia Barrios<\/strong>
\nNeural regulation of the pulmonary neuroendocrine system induce mucus overproduction<\/a>
\nMentor: Xingbin Ai
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Grant Duclos<\/strong>
\nCharacterization of smoking-associated transcriptomic alterations to the human bronchial epithelium<\/a>
\nMentor: Avrum Spira
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Terry Hsieh<\/strong>
\nMild traumatic brain injury augments innate immune responses through neurokinin and cholinergic signaling<\/a>
\nMentor: Daniel Remick
\nPathology Md\/PhD<\/p>\n

2017<\/h2>\n

Ana Brandusa Pavel<\/strong>
\nMulti-omics data integration for the detection and characterization of smoking related lung diseases<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

Katherine Benson McCauley<\/strong>
\nPluripotent stem cell modeling of airway epithelial fate<\/a>
\nMentor: Darrell Kotton
\nMolecular Biology PhD<\/p>\n

Anjali Jacob<\/strong>
\nGeneration of mature type II alveolar epithelial cells from human pluripotent stem cells<\/a>
\nMentor: Darrell Kotton
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Jacob Josef Kantrowitz<\/strong>
\nTranscriptomic alterations underlying pathogenesis and carcinogenesis in COPD<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine MD\/PhD<\/p>\n

Joseph Perez-Rogers<\/strong>
\nDevelopment of a minimally invasive molecular biomarker for early detection of lung cancer<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg\/Avrum Spira
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

Aleksander Szymaniak<\/strong>
\nPolarity and Hippo signaling in epithelial cell fate regulation<\/a>
\nMentor: Bob Varelas
\nBiochemistry PhD<\/p>\n

2016<\/h2>\n

Fadie Coleman<\/strong>
\nInfluence of macrophage NF-kappaB activation on pneumococcal pneumonia<\/a>
\nMentor: Joseph P. Mizgerd
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

Elyse Kozlowski<\/strong>
\nFunctional roles for the terminal uridyltransferase enzymes Zcchc6 and Zcchc11 in mammalian biology<\/a>
\nMentor: Matthew R. Jones
\nMolecular and Translational Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Nicole Stauffer Smith<\/strong>
\nRespiratory infections with pneumococci establish multi-pronged heterotypic protection against pneumonia<\/a>
\nMentor: Joseph P. Mizgerd
\nPathology and Laboratory Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

Greg Wasserman<\/strong>
\nA discrete population of ciliated cells express the piRNA binding protein MIWI2 to regulate lung inflammation<\/a>
\nMentor: Matthew R. Jones
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

2015<\/h2>\n

Kristie Hilliard<\/strong>
\nThe functional significance of the lung-liver axis during pneumonia<\/a>
\nMentor: Lee J. Quinton
\nMicrobiology PhD<\/p>\n

Rebecca Kusko<\/strong>
\nIntegrative transcriptomics in smoking related lung diseases<\/a>
\nMentor: Avrum Spira
\nGenetics & Genomics PhD<\/p>\n

Teresa Wang<\/strong>
\nTranscriptomics of the human airway epithelium reflect the physiologic response to inhaled environmental pollutants<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

2014<\/h2>\n

Joseph Gerrein<\/strong>
\nUsing gene and microRNA expression in the human airway for lung cancer diagnosis<\/a>
\nMentor: Avrum Spira
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

Kahkeshan Hijazi<\/strong>
\nThe airway transcriptome as a measure of injury response to and recovery from smoking and alternative tobacco products<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

John Mahoney<\/strong>
\nThe role of Yap in lung development<\/a>
\nMentor: Wellington Cardoso
\nPathology & Laboratory Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

2013<\/h2>\n

Linh Aven<\/strong>
\nInnervation defects as a mechanism of childhood asthma<\/a>
\nMentor: Xingbin Ai
\nMolecular Medicine, Cell and Molecular Biology PhD<\/p>\n

John Brothers<\/strong>
\nCharacterizing and reassembling the COPD and ILD transcriptome using RNA-Seq<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

Radhika Dixit<\/strong>
\nThe contribution of mesothelial cells to lung development<\/a>
\nMentor: Alan Fine
\nMolecular Medicine PhD<\/p>\n

2012<\/h2>\n

Joshua Campbell<\/strong>
\nGenome-wide characterization of microRNA and gene expression patterns in smoking-related lung disease<\/a>
\nMentor: Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

Julie Gil Zeskind<\/strong>
\nGene expression alterations associated with progression of emphysema and small airway disease in smokers with COPD<\/a>
\nMentor: Avrum Spira\/Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n

Adam Gower<\/strong>
\nDiscovering biological connections between experimental conditions based on common patterns of differential gene expression<\/a>
\nMentor: Avrum Spira\/Marc Lenburg
\nBioinformatics PhD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our last decade has included the following PhD dissertations, some of the exciting academic accomplishments from students and mentors of the Pulmonary Center: 2026 Gabrielle Grifno Developing and Utilizing the Crystal Ribcage Platform to Probe Respiratory and Circulatory Functions of the Lung From Whole Organ to Single Alveolus in Helath and Disease Mentor: Hadi Nia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16527,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3346"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16527"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3346"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5623,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3346\/revisions\/5623"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/pulmonarycenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}