ENG program injects seed funding into ambitious, collaborative research projects
Boston University College of Engineering Dean ad interim Elise Morgan has announced the five winners—out of a record 30 applicants—of the 2025 Dean’s Catalyst Awards. The research teams will each receive funds over two years to pursue promising, ambitious projects that cut across disciplinary lines as they aim to solve global challenges.
“The record number of applications combined with the uncertain economic conditions facing the research community conspired to make this a highly competitive cohort,” says Distinguished Professor of Engineering Siddharth Ramachandran (ECE, Physics, MSE), who is also interim associate dean for research and faculty development.
Established in 2007, the Dean’s Catalyst Awards aim to give an early boost to bold ideas in research, fueling innovative collaborations that stand a good chance of garnering bigger funding down the road.
The 2025 Dean’s Catalyst Award winners are:
“Endolytic probes for robust profiling of intracellular kinase activity”
Assistant Professor Erica Pratt (BME, MSE), the Moorman-Simon Interdisciplinary Career Development Professor, will collaborate with Professor Ahmad (Mo) Khalil (BME) to develop a method of measuring kinase signaling, a potential biomarker for cancer.
Protein kinases are enzymes that regulate the activity of up to 30 percent of all cellular proteins, determining whether cells proliferate, differentiate, or migrate. That means if researchers could accurately pick up on kinase signals—in particular the process of protein phosphorylation, a kind of tumor on-off switch—in tissue samples, then it might serve as a predictor of cancer, as well as other pathologies.
But doing that will require an assay capable of measuring enzyme-specific signaling pathways. One way to do this is sending in what are known as cell-deliverable affinity-based peptide probes, a process hampered by a data analysis challenge. The system proposed by Pratt and Khalil will integrate emerging technologies in chemical biology and bioengineering to quantify the signal-to-noise ratio, variability, and other performance metrics for each probe in a well-validated, cell-based kinase kinetics assay.
“Improving Solid Oxide Cell Performance for Green Energy Breakthroughs in Nanoscale 3D Imaging”
Professor Soumendra Basu (ME, MSE) is working with colleagues on solid oxide cells (SOCs) that would make hydrogen viable as a clean energy source; Professor Vivek Goyal (ECE) and his lab are improving secondary electron (SE) imaging technologies. The researchers are now joining forces to develop methods of evaluating the performance of SOCs, using SE imaging.
One thing holding back SOCs is the degradation that results from oxygen pressure buildup at the interfaces between materials in the system. To design a better system, Soumendra’s team has been trying to understand that degradation, but current SOC characterization methods suffer from high noise and inadequate 3D resolution.
Leveraging Goyal’s expertise in imaging for nanometer-scale measurement, this collaborative project will build upon recent advances in helium ion microscopy to develop methods to reduce noise and improve resolution in the assessment of materials used in SOCs
“Interferometric absorption microscopy for label-free imaging of neuronal health”
Professor Jerome Mertz (BME, ECE, Physics) and CAS Assistant Professor Lynne Chantranupong (Neurobiology and Metabolism) propose a versatile microscope based on a novel technique they are developing for the study of cellular molecules that are central to the pathophysiology of neurodegeneration.
The team’s technique, which they call interferometric differential absorption contrast (IDAC), is intended to be simple, robust, and highly sensitive, and to overcome the shortcomings of existing microscopy methods by simultaneously providing label-free imaging and molecular specificity. They believe IDAC might redefine how researchers interrogate the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal health and dysfunction.
Working in conjunction with the Boston University Photonics Center and the CAS Biology Department, Mertz and Chantranupong will use the Catalyst Award funds in part to acquire a unique ultra-broadband light source and a new ultra-broadband camera.
“The Influence of Wicking and Evaporation on Mosquito Host-Seeking Behavior and Olfactory Neural Responses”
Associate Professor James Bird (ME, MSE) and Associate Professor Meg Younger (Biology, BME) seek to unravel the biophysical and sensory mechanisms underlying mosquito attraction, with potential applications including more effective mosquito repellents or traps.
Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, and Zika pose major global health threats. A critical factor in mosquitos’ host-seeking behavior is their ability to detect chemical cues released from human skin and sweat. Capillary wicking–the process by which liquids spread through porous materials–plays a key role in evaporating and sending out these chemical compounds into the air.
By combining physical models of wicking and evaporation dynamics, forced-choice assays with freely flying mosquitos, and neurobiological studies of mosquito olfaction, Bird and Younger propose to investigate the interplay between capillary wicking, evaporation, and mosquito olfactory responses. In addition to better sprays, the study might lead to greater knowledge about how mosquitos’ neural systems encode complex odor landscapes.
“Everyday Stress and Cognition in Epilepsy: Leveraging Machine Learning for Next-Generation Neurostimulation Systems”
Assistant Professor Matthias Stangl (BME, Psychological & Brain Sciences, Neurosurgery), Assistant Professor Brian DePasquale (BME), and Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine Assistant Professor Myriam Abdennadher, director of the Epilepsy Surgery Program, propose to investigate how psychosocial stress interacts with epilepsy to affect cognition and seizure occurrence.
The team plans to combine rare intracranial electrophysiological recordings in two complementary patient group, aided by advanced machine learning approaches. By uniting short- and long-term observations, the study aims to illuminate the neurophysiological mechanisms whereby both acute and sustained stress contribute to epileptic activity, seizures, and cognitive deficits.
The knowledge gained by this study will result in the next generation of neurostimulation systems that adapt to stress fluctuations, delivering personalized interventions that not only enhance seizure control but also preserve cognitive functioning. Ultimately, the researchers hope to transform treatment strategies for epilepsy by integrating real-world stress monitoring and computational modeling, to improve clinical outcomes and quality of life.