Launched in the spring of 2009, the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research (ECIBR) and the BU Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office (IBRO), established in 2015, both under the founding directorship of Prof. Katya Ravid, enhance the long tradition of innovative, collaborative research at Boston University.
The ECIBR began on the Medical Campus, providing the groundwork and tools to facilitate biomedical team science. IBRO expands the reach of those efforts to the Charles River Campus, encouraging more robust collaboration across the University and inspiring initiatives that are larger in scope. Both the ECIBR and IBRO provide opportunities for collaborations within Affinity Research Collaboratives (ARCs) organized around foci of common research interests. The extraordinary strength in biomedical and physical sciences at Boston University and the support and development of the ARCs create opportunities for new interdisciplinary approaches to both research and training in biomedical research. Graduated ARCs have given rise to several new research programs and a center, such as the BU Microbiome Research Program and the Center for Regenerative Medicine, respectively.
Discoveries made by research teams supported by IBRO and the ECIBR are channeled to BU CTSI for further development of translational research and guidance related to technology developments. For example, cells developed by the regenerative medicine ARC (iPS Bank) were subjected to subsequent translational/ drug screening applications in human samples with the aid of CTSI.
CTSI's Core Goal & Rationale
A core goal for the CTSI is to use the resources and expertise of our hub to promote the highest quality and most efficient clinical and translational research. We believe this is best achieved through a Team Science approach, where investigators from different departments and schools with complementary and supplementary expertise engage and interact in networks of teams. Team Science is a critical success factor of the CTSI and embedded across all aspects of the program, including training and collaboration with stakeholders and the community.
Working as a team, investigators from different expertise, disciplines, and backgrounds collaborate to solve a complex scientific problem. Such multidisciplinary collaborations are not common although they have been shown to be more efficient in solving complex scientific problems than teams comprised of like-minded individuals (same discipline or background).
The National Academies 2015 report “Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science” set out the importance of Team Science in advancing biomedical discoveries and how its effectiveness could be improved both at individual and institutional levels. Most of the recommendations are based on research on teams done in non-science fields such as business. Consequently, more research and tools are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of teams of scientists. CTSI and its affiliates have already implemented policies and activities to stimulate and support multidisciplinary collaborations and continue to develop Team Science programs to maintain the institute’s competitive edge and fulfill the university’s mission of excellent education and research, as well as secure grant funding and advance biomedical discoveries.
Team Science Implementation
BU-CTSI approaches Team Science research and education in four major ways, including:
- Co-development of a university-wide Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office (BU IBRO), using Affinity Research Collaboratives (ARCs) as incubators for starting up new interdisciplinary biomedical research projects with translational potential
- Collaboration with the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, based at Boston University Medical Campus, towards channeling ARC discoveries to technology development
- Formal instruction focusing on multidisciplinary initiatives
- Experiential learning forums.
Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Office (IBRO)
Affinity Research Collaboratives (ARCs) represents a new paradigm of pursuing investigators-initiated interdisciplinary biomedical research, developed by the Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research at the medical school, with the collaboration of the CTSI. IBRO uses this mechanism to create opportunities for collaborative, interdisciplinary research at the university level. This translates into the continued development of ARCs, but also of larger scope initiatives that have the potential to develop into university programs. Further, initiatives based at IBRO mandate co-leadership by faculty from the Medical and Charles River campuses. IBRO adds to its portfolio strategic planning of investigator-initiated ARC themes based on knowledge of upcoming announcements of extramural funding. The Evans Center and IBRO director will continue to work closely with faculty, whether during the process of ARC assembly or through suggestions for areas of development.
Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research
The Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research and its building blocks, the pre-ARCs and then ARCs, are based at the Department of Medicine. ARCs are supported by the center, following peer review, and are led by BU Medical Center faculty, with participation of medical campus faculty, and some from Charles River Campus and other universities. The Evans Center is mainly focused on investigator-initiated research topics, following collective discussions of participants and insights provided by the center’s director.
Formal Instruction & Experiential Learning Forums
Activities under this category include:
- Yearly inter-institutional symposia such as the Annual Mobile & Electronic Health ARC Symposium; Arc-hosted, Basic-to-translational research thematic seminars months such as Inflammasome activation in response to SARS-CoV-2 and in COVID-19 patients (Hosted by Respiratory Viruses: a focus on COVID-19 ARC and COVID-19 and Thrombosis Complications (Hosted by the Thrombosis and Hemostasis in Health and Disease ARC and the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute) Seminars and method-driven workshops on team science and community engagement, followed by discussion forums among faculty and trainees (ARCs Paths to Community Engagement and the Monthly Community Engagement (CE) Education Series directed by Rebecca Lobb, Director of Integration and Strategic Partnerships, BUCTSI and the Center of Excellence in Women’s Health, BMC);
- Think tanks and team science retreats attended by faculty from some hub partners and affiliates to prioritize new areas of translational research and education;
- The Students-Trainees-Driven Medical Technology Program where biotech and pharma companies are asked to present problem statements to graduate students and post-doc fellows for solutions. Benefits include demystifying drug and device development, building entrepreneurial skills, experiencing team dynamics, priority setting, problem-solving, and insights into a potential career with industry (see Medical Innovation and Technology (MInT));
- The Industry Exploration Project via the BU Office of Postdoctoral Affairs offers trainees and grad students the opportunity to explore careers outside of academia and understand the skills necessary to transition from academic science to the biotechnology sector;
- Cross-disciplinary training in Nanomedicine, which has spawned new collaborations between nanotechnologists and medical researchers, brings together faculty from physics, medicine, chemistry, and biochemistry (see: Focus in Nanomedicine);
- “Externships” or mini-sabbaticals where research team members and faculty can spend up to three months outside of BU learning new skills in diverse disciplines. For example, we offer internships in multicenter trials at our affiliate, the New England Research Institute, or any of our 13 Boston HealthNet community health care centers;
- A newly developed Master of Science program focused on Interdisciplinary Approaches to Research based on knowledge of various Research Core technologies, i.e., Master of Science in Biomedical Research Technologies. For more information, click here.
How it all fits with the CTSI
The Evans Center began on the Medical Campus, providing the groundwork and tools to facilitate biomedical team science. IBRO expands the reach of those efforts to the Charles River Campus, encouraging more robust collaboration across the University and inspiring initiatives that are larger in scope. The Evans Center remains focused on investigator-initiated research topics within the medical campus, while IBRO develops cross-campus programs around research strengths at BU and initiatives with the potential to develop into university-wide research initiatives and programs. Discoveries made by research teams supported by IBRO and the Evans Center will be channeled to CTSI for further development of translational research and guidance related to technology developments. For example, cells developed by the regenerative medicine ARC (iPS Bank) were subjected to subsequent translational/drug screening applications in human samples with the aid of CTSI.
Current ARCs
- A Multi-Disciplinary Program to Identify Predictors of Efficacy and Resistance to Cancer Checkpoint Inhibition (PIPER-C) ARC
Co-Directors: Matthew Kulke, M.D., Evan Johnson, Ph.D., David Sherr, Ph.D. & Gerald Denis, Ph.D.
This emerging ARC pulls from a broad range of collaborations, including investigators in multiple disciplines, to focus on metabolic predictors of immune checkpoint inhibition. Studying AHR activity, analysis of metabolites related to oxidative stress which focuses on the microbiome, and evaluation of tumor-drived exosomes in the context of patients receiving treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, this study has broad implications for understanding cancer biology and optimizing cancer treatment. Read More
- Respiratory Viruses: A focus on COVID-19
Co-Directors: Markus Bosmann, M.D. & Mohsan Saeed, Ph.D.
This multi-disciplinary researcher team of Boston University (BUMC, CRC) will develop and test novel cell culture systems to dissect how this virus: invades the lung and other organs; replicates inside cells; is recognized and counteracted by the host immune defense. Using mouse models of the disease, studies will also focus on life-threatening complications, such as Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), sepsis, multi-organ failure, coagulopathy, and the role of co-infections, co-morbidities, sex, and age. Read More
- Tobacco Regulatory Science
Director: Jessica Fetterman, Ph.D.
Co-Directors: Naomi Hamburg, M.D., Andrew Stokes, Ph.D., & Stine Grodal, Ph.D.
The goal of the Tobacco Regulatory Science ARC is to assemble a multi-disciplinary team to tackle questions related to the safety, perceptions, marketing, and use patterns of new and emerging tobacco products, and to evaluate the effectiveness of associated regulatory measures. Collaborating across disciplines in clinical, basic science, law, and communications, this investigative team is uniquely poised to evaluate how the federal and local state flavoring bans impact tobacco use, both among vulnerable populations as well as the cardiopulmonary toxicity of new and emerging e-cigarettes that circumvent the federal flavored tobacco ban. Read More
- Connecting Tissues and Investigators (Fibrosis in Pathology)
Co-Directors: Xaralabos Varelas, Ph.D., Irving Bigio Ph.D., & Maria Trojanowska, Ph.D.
The proposed ARC will bring together researchers, clinicians, and bioengineers across the two campuses at Boston University to test this hypothesis, focusing on the following research: Molecular phenotyping of profibrotic cells: Identify similarities and differences in the cell types that contribute to organ fibrosis. Metabolomics: The metabolomics fingerprint will be associated with scleroderma organ involvement and renal transplant fibrosis.
Imaging of fibrosis: Noninvasive sensing and imaging will be exploited to generate quantitative measures of the degree of fibrosis. Read More
- System Biology Approaches to Microbiome Research
Co-Directors: Daniel Segrè, Ph.D. & Evan Johnson, Ph.D.
The goal of this ARC is to develop a new, multi-level mechanistic understanding of how microbe-microbe, microbe-environment, and microbe-host interactions determine microbial community dynamics, diversity, and stability, and use this knowledge to understand how to engineer microbial communities for defined purposes. Read More
- Mobile and Electronic (ME)-Health ARC
Director: Belinda Borrelli, Ph.D.
Co-Directors: Lisa Quintiliani, Ph.D. & Tibor Palfai, Ph.D.
The mission of the Mobile & Electronic Health ARC (ME-ARC) is to conduct research and training on mobile health with an emphasis on underserved populations and transdisciplinary research. Collaboration in the overlapping field of applied health informatics enhanced our research capabilities and has led to strong collaboration with the Tobacco ARC and a newly initiated Adolescent Health pre ARC. Read More
- Precision Medicine for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders
Co-Directors: Lindsay Farrer, Ph.D., Rhoda Au, Ph.D., & Alice Cronin-Golomb, Ph.D.
The primary aims of this ARC are to identify subtypes of AD within the Framingham Heart Study (FHS) dataset, validate these subtypes using other available data from the national AD Centers database and other public databases, investigate the biological underpinnings of these subtypes, and identify new therapeutic targets specific for these subtypes. Read More
- Thrombosis to Hemostasis ARC
Directors: Vipul Chitalia, M.D., Ph.D., Katya Ravid, D.Sc., & Jean M. Francis, M.D.
The Thrombosis ARC explores possible molecular models in order to develop cancer-specific risk models for the prediction of Symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE), which remains an important complication in cancer patients. Current predictive models do not identify subgroups of patients at sufficiently high risk to warrant therapy, as VTE risk stratifications are not well developed in most patients with cancer.
Directors: Vipul Chitalia, M.D., Ph.D., Katya Ravid, D.Sc., & Jean M. Francis, M.D.
ARC Profiles
