News
Bat Antiviral Immunity Paper Makes Headlines
A Cell paper by Stephanie Pavlovich and Tom Kepler, along with co-authors at Boston University and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), was featured in Science Immunology's Editor's Choice column: 'Bats are “blind” to the deadly effects of viruses' (Science Immunology 01 Jun 2018: Vol. 3, Issue 24).
Computational Immunology Summer School Underway
The 2018 Computational Immunology Summer School is underway! The theme of this year's summer school is "Focus on B Cells". We have an accomplished and diverse group of 22 students: 11 PhD candidates, 4 MD and MD/PhD candidates, 2 post-doctoral fellows, and 5 academic faculty and research scientists. The students are actively engaged in immunological research projects involving B cell biology and will directly benefit from the material in this program. We are providing housing and travel scholarships for 10 students. The 2018 Summer School is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, under Grant No. U19AI117892 to Boston University. This work is supported under the Modeling Immunity for Biodefense. Additional support has been provided by the Hariri Institute.
Cell Publication Highlights Unexpected Features of Bat Antiviral Immunity
Stephanie Pavlovich and Tom Kepler, along with co-authors at Boston University and the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), published an article entitled "The Egyptian Rousette Genome Reveals Unexpected Features of Bat Antiviral Immunity" in Cell. More information about this work can be found at the BU Research and USAMRIID websites.
Stephanie Pavlovich receives Russek Award
Stephanie Pavlovich (née D'Souza) received first prize in the 2018 Russek Student Achievement Awards. Stephanie will give an oral presentation of her work on Thursday, May 10, 2018, at the 24th Annual Henry I. Russek Achievement Day.
Sila Ataca successfully defends PhD dissertation
Sila Ataca (PhD student, Microbiology) successfully defended her PhD dissertation on April 25, 2018. She will continue with the Kepler Lab while completing manuscripts for publication.
Stephanie D’Souza completes PhD requirements
Stephanie D'Souza (MD/PhD student, Microbiology) successfully defended her PhD dissertation on April 5, 2018. Stephanie will resume her medical studies in May.
Feng Feng presents at Beijing Zhizhen International Forum on Medicine & Engineering
Feng Feng gave a talk at the 2017 Beijing Zhizhen International Forum on Medicine & Engineering.
Katherine Norwood poster receives 3rd place award
Katherine Norwood (PhD candidate, Bioinformatics) received the third place award for the poster she presented at the BU Bioinformatics Student-Organized Symposium.
Stephanie D’Souza attends Gordon Research Seminar and Conference
Stephanie D'Souza (MD/PhD student, Microbiology) attended the Gordon-Kenan Research Seminar on Viruses & Cells (May 13-14, 2017). The topic of the seminar was The Interplay Between Viruses and Their Hosts Through Molecular Recognition, Establishment of Infection and Cellular Response. She also attended the Viruses & Cells Research Conference (May 14-19, 2017) on Biology, Pathogenesis, and Treatment of Viral Infections. Both meetings were held in Lucca (Barga), Italy.
Tom Kepler, Rachel Fearns, and Joseph Mizgerd receive R61 grant
Tom Kepler and fellow Principal Investigators Rachel Fearns and Joseph Mizgerd received an R61 award from the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The goals of this project are to study the immunoglobulin variable-region repertoire of lung-resident B cells, and to quantify the degree to which they provide information about the history of pulmonary infection and lung-resident commensal viruses, as well as about the likelihood of future pulmonary infection.