NEIDL in the News
NEIDL Researcher Quoted In Washington Post on H5N1
The recent bird flu outbreak is being regarded as the largest animal disease outbreak on record, raising concerns about its potential to spark a pandemic. More
NEIDL Researcher Florian Douam, PhD, Receives Smith Family Foundation’s Odyssey Award
Two junior faculty members have been awarded Smith Family Foundation’s Odyssey Awards. Florian Douam, PhD, assistant professor of virology, immunology, and microbiology, and a core faculty member at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), and Jessica L. Fetterman, PhD, FAHA, assistant professor of medicine, will each receive two-year, $400,000 grants... More
NEIDL Researcher Wins a 2024 Kilachand Fund Award
What if we could find a way to bring mRNA vaccines and antibodies together, so each retains their benefits while reducing their limitations? A new Boston University project aims to do just that. More
BU’s Leading Home for Infectious Diseases Research to Get Major Upgrade with NIH Grant
One of just two National Biocontainment Laboratories in the United States, the NEIDL has just been given a $7.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to modernize its facilities and help broaden its impact. More
Deadly Marburg virus: scientists race to test vaccines in outbreak
Researchers are in a race against time to deploy vaccines and treatments against a deadly virus that has exploded in Rwanda. More
NEIDL Awarded $7.5 Million Construction Grant
We are excited to announce that the NEIDL successfully competed for a $7.5 million construction grant (C06) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This generous funding will be crucial in expanding the NEIDL's capabilities to address both current and future research needs. More
A New Type of RNA Could Revolutionize Vaccines and Cancer Treatments
An accidental discovery turned into an unexpected success, when a team of interdisciplinary BU researchers created a new and improved COVID vaccine. More
Modified Self-Amplifying RNA Provides Opportunities For New Vaccines And Treatments
A paper published on July 8, 2024 in the journal Nature Biotechnology presents promising data that offers a foundation for developing future vaccines and treatments. More
After 30 years of decline, tuberculosis is rising in the U.S. again. How did we get here?
After declining for three decades, tuberculosis (TB) rates in the U.S. have been increasing steadily since 2020. More
Is COVID-19 Still a Pandemic?
The Brink asked three Boston University researchers—a virologist, an epidemiologist, and an emergency room physician—to explain the shifting status of COVID, how to decide when a virus has gone from a pandemic to endemic, how much people should protect themselves and others, and why language matters. More
Novel compound protects against infection by virus that causes COVID-19, preliminary studies show.
Compounds that obstruct the “landing gear” of a range of harmful viruses can successfully protect against infection by the virus that causes COVID-19 finds a new study from NEIDL researchers and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. More
Virology, Immunology & Microbiology Professor Robert Davey awarded $3.3M per year for five years.
The NIH National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases awarded $3.3M per year for five years to a Washington University-led team that includes Professor Robert Davey, Virology, Immunology & Microbiology (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, BU National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories), to explore the molecular mechanisms by which filoviral-host... More
It’s good to feel bad after your COVID shot
New research suggests that the worse your symptoms are after getting the COVID-19 vaccine, the better. Here’s why. PUBLISHED OCTOBER 12, 2023 • 8 MIN READ Jeremy Warner has had six shots of the COVID vaccines. He’s an oncologist at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he treats immunocompromised patients... More
Preventing the Next Pandemic
Original article from The Brink by Jessica Colarossi. November 15, 2023. New Zealand’s former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern joins the world’s leading infectious disease scientists and experts at BU to discuss how to prepare for future outbreaks “Next to climate change, I can’t think of a more important task,” Kenneth W. More
Researchers Find Potential Way to Tweak Immune System to Help It Fight Tuberculosis
Original article from The Brink by Andrew Thurston. September 27, 2023. TB is the world’s second-deadliest infectious disease, behind COVID-19. A new BU-led study shows how to turn TB-susceptible immune cells into TB-resistant ones. More than a million people around the world still die from TB every year. Now, a Boston University–led research... More
After White House Stint, BU Infectious Diseases Expert Shares Pandemic Lessons
Original article from The Brink by Andrew Thurston. August 1, 2023 Nahid Bhadelia has returned to BU after helping lead the Biden administration’s COVID-19 pandemic response Having a desk in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building—part of the White House complex—guarantees some high-caliber coworkers. Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan... More
Inside Omicron with Mohsan Saeed
Mohsan Saeed joins This Week in Virology to discuss the work of his laboratory showing that spike and nsp6 are determinants of Omicron attenuation, and why the work was widely misinterpreted by the press and the public. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eciWFYH3wiI
New Marburg Outbreaks in Africa Raise Alarm About the Deadly Virus’s Spread
Original article from the New York Times by Stephanie Nolen. April 3, 2023 The spread of the Ebola-like virus has claimed lives but could be a crucial chance to test a vaccine — if supplies and researchers are mobilized in time. Two concurrent outbreaks of the Marburg virus, a close cousin of... More
Marburg virus outbreaks are increasing in frequency and geographic spread – three virologists explain
Original article from The Conversation by Adam Hume, Elke Mühlberger, and Judith Olejnik. March 13, 2023 The World Health Organization confirmed an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus disease in the central African country of Equatorial Guinea on Feb. 13, 2023. To date, there have been 11 deaths suspected to be caused by the... More
BU Researchers Join $100 Million Effort to Fight Future Deadly Pathogens
Original article from The Brink by Andrew Thurston. February 17, 2023 Scientists from NEIDL and medical and dental schools part of Howard Hughes Medical Institute push to get ahead of pandemics like COVID-19 The next pandemic could already be lurking somewhere, and scientists want to make sure the world is ready when it springs. More