Research News
BU lab wasn’t required to clear potentially controversial study with NIH, director says
Original article from STAT by Helen Branswell. October 18, 2022 The director of a Boston University laboratory that conducted potentially controversial research on the viruses that cause Covid-19 said his institution didn’t clear the work with the National Institutes of Health because it wasn’t funded by the federal agency. Ronald Corley said... More
NEIDL Researchers Refute UK Article about COVID Strain
Original article from The Brink by The Brink Staff. October 17, 2022 Boston University is refuting a series of misleading claims about research at the University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL). The reports, which first appeared on Monday in the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail, claimed researchers at the lab had... More
Research panel, including BU’s Gerald Keusch, says pandemic came from nature, not a lab
Original article from Science by Jon Cohen. October 10, 2022 The acrimonious debate over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic flared up again this week with a report from an expert panel concluding that SARS-CoV-2 likely spread naturally in a zoonotic jump from an animal to humans—without help from a lab. “Our... More
Biochemist Mohsan Saeed Awarded Two Prestigious Federal Grants to Study Viruses
Mohsan Saeed, PhD, assistant professor of biochemistry, has received a five-year, $2 million R35 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, as well as a five-year, $2.5 million R01 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It is extremely rare for an early-stage investigator to... More
Draft bill would ban CDC, NIH from funding lab research in China
Original article from Science by Jocelyn Kaiser. June 12, 2022 A proposal moving through Congress to bar the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from funding research laboratories in China is sparking concern among scientists. If signed into law, the measure could cut off millions... More
TWiV 891: LLOV in the time of Ebola; Interview with Elke Muhlberger & Adam Hume
Original article from This Week in Virology (TWIV) by Vincent Racaniello, Rich Condit, Kathy Spindler, and Brianne Barker. April 21, 2022 Elke, Adam, and Gabor join TWiV to discuss their work on Lloviu virus, a filovirus, including recovery of infectious virus from a DNA copy of the genome and from Schreiber’s... More
Inside the Insectary: How BU Scientists Study Diseases from Mosquitoes—without Getting Bitten
Original article from The Brink by Devin Hahn & Andrew Thurston. April 4, 2022 It’s an unwanted ritual of summer: vainly splatting at mosquitoes as they nibble your exposed legs and arms, then enduring days of irritated itching from inflamed bites. For most Americans, it’s just an annoyance, but for many... More
Research That Matters – NEIDL: Right Place, Right Time
Original article from BU Annual Report. January 31, 2022 Microbiologist Robert Davey’s ongoing novel coronavirus research was boosted with $400,000 through Harvard from the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness, part of $1.6 million in funding that BU researchers received. When news broke that an unknown and dangerous virus had reached US shores... More
BU Scientists Are Prepared to Detect Omicron—and Other Variants
Original article from The Brink By Kat J. McAlpine. December 8, 2021 BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) has been monitoring COVID-19 variants from BU and Boston Medical Center tests since February When will the coronavirus variant known as Omicron arrive at BU? Although it’s hard to predict, it seems like... More
Malaria Vaccine—the First Ever to Immunize against a Parasitic Infection—Gets Green Light from WHO (Q&A w/ Davidson Hamer)
Original article from The Brink By Jessica Colarossi. October 7, 2021 Malaria and infectious disease expert says the vaccine could save countless children’s lives in sub-Saharan Africa—but he still has a few concerns In a historic move, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday announced their recommendation for widespread use of the... More