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Zhang receives Responsible Research in Management award
Assistant professor of management and organizational development Victoria Zhang has received the Responsible Research in Management Award from the Academy of Management for her paper “Where Is All the Deviance? Liminal Prescribing and the Social Networks Underlying the Prescription Drug Crisis.” “This annual award recognizes and celebrates recent research that benefits society by producing credible and useful knowledge,” the Academy of Management noted in their announcement.
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Lu receives distinguished communication scholarship
Associate professor of communication studies in the College of Arts, Media and Design Amy Lu has received the Gerald M. Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Scholarship from the National Communication Association. “Dr. Lu’s scholarship explores the power of narratives in interactive communication technologies informed by an interdisciplinary and community-engaged approach,” the association states in its announcement. “This program of research has been supported by an impressive record of securing external grant funding and demonstrates great promise in shaping the future of health communication.”
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Patent granted for engineered bacteria ‘secreting therapeutic proteins’
“Engineered bacteria that secrete therapeutic polypeptides, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the bacteria, methods for producing recombinant polypeptides, and methods for using the bacteria for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes are provided,” the abstract reads.
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Taylor receives Harold Osher Award for research in sleep problems for children with autism
“Taylor, an emerging researcher in the field of mental and behavioral health, was presented with the Harold Osher Award for Excellence in Clinical and Population Health at the annual Lambrew Research Retreat sponsored by the MaineHealth Research Institute on May 1st, 2024. One hundred and thirty abstracts were submitted for the award, and after a blind panel review, Taylor’s abstract, ‘Sleep Problems in Children with Autism at the Time of Psychiatric Hospitalization in Relation to Parental Stress and Self-Efficacy,’ was awarded first place in the category of clinical and population health research.”
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Wesley wins 2023 Fox International Case Writing Competition
In a post on LinkedIn, David Wesley wrote that he was “honored to be the winner of the 2023 Fox International Case Writing Competition with the case study, ‘Anheuser-Busch and the Anti-Transgender Boycott of Bud Light.'” Wesley performed this research “to show how Bud Light, as the leading beer brand in America, had to deal with a crisis situation that resulted from its campaign with a transgender influencer, Dylan Mulvaney.” Wesley continued, “The case highlights the duty of care that businesses have to their stakeholders, especially in times of crisis.”
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Zheng receives funding for ‘innovative’ hybrid fuel cells
“Mechanical and industrial engineering associate professor Yi Zheng received a research grant of $208,957 to work on a three-year project, ‘Innovative Hybrid PEM Hydrogen Fuel Cell,’ from THETA LLC of Fall River, Massachusetts. This project will study the biomimetic hybrid hydrogen fuel cell as a practical alternative, addressing key barriers to widespread adoption. This involves developing non-platinum (Pt)-based gas diffusion layer/carbon electrodes, implementing enzymatic catalysts, and constructing a hybrid fuel cell to achieve high current and power densities by increasing the volumetric loading and conductivity of the hybrid biocatalyst.”
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Oakes named to ASME top 25 Watch List
The “American Society of Mechanical Engineers recognized bioengineering associate professor Jessica Oakes on the Watch List of top 25 early career professionals. Her ASME magazine profile highlighted her work ‘What Happens When We Inhale Things?’ with applications from wildfire smoke to e-cigarettes.”
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Zhu receives ECS Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship for research on sustainable batteries
“Mechanical and industrial engineering assistant professor Juner Zhu is one of only three individuals to receive an Electrochemical Society Toyota Young Investigator Fellowship this year. He will conduct research to assess the condition of batteries in electric vehicles using mechano-electrochemical techniques that will identify a battery’s physical changes to determine its overall health.”
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Santillana added to Atlas of Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists
Mauricio Santillana, a professor of both physics and electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University, has been added to the Atlas of Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists, hosted by the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. The atlas is described as “a grassroots effort developed to showcase the expertise, talents, and diversity of Hispanic and Latinx scientific faculty.” Santillana’s research focuses on modeling complex events — like disease outbreaks— through machine learning and network science.
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Northeastern partners with National Science Foundation to launch regional research security center
Backed by a five-year $4.9 million investment from the NSF, the center will be an information clearinghouse for the research community.
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Zhao receives NSF award for modeling ammonia production methods
“Chemical engineering assistant professor Qing Zhao was awarded a $537,226 NSF award for ‘Automated Embedded Correlated Wavefunction Theory for Kinetic Modeling in Heterogeneous Catalysis.’ The research will investigate ammonia production with a goal of developing advanced computational modeling tools to understand fundamental chemistry in ammonia synthesis powered by renewable electrical energy/stored electrons.”
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Engineering professor receives 2024 Excellence in Teaching Award
“First-year engineering teaching professor Joshua Hertz received the 2024 University Excellence in Teaching Award. … Hertz has been instrumental in advancing instruction in the Cornerstone of Engineering program. He emphasizes a curriculum based on highly open-ended problems, increasing students’ self-efficacy and tolerance for ambiguity. His hands-on approach and commitment to experiential learning has students work with community and global partners, supporting Northeastern’s mission to create engaged, passionate, ethical problem solvers.”
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National Institute of Aging supports Apfeld lifespan research
Javier Apfeld, associate professor of biology, has received funding from the National Institute of Aging for “Genome-Wide CRISPR Activation: A Novel Strategy for Identifying Anti-Aging Targets.” Apfeld writes that, “This project will characterize and optimize a novel time and cost saving toolkit that allows simple, rapid and robust activation of gene expression in the widely used model organism C. elegans, bringing new capabilities to systematically test the effect of gene activation in a broad range of biological problems. These capabilities will be employed to search for novel genes whose activation promotes healthy aging and increases lifespan.”
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Leading nanomedicine researcher named Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS
Northeastern University Distinguished Professor Vladimir Torchilin has been named a Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS for research advances in the fields of drug delivery and nanomedicine.
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NIH funding for nanomedicine co-ops fighting cancer
“CaNCURE: Cancer Nanomedicine Co-ops for Undergraduate Research Experiences Program seeks to provide training and education in research at the interface of nanotechnology, cancer biology and medicine to attract, retain and encourage young scientists and engineers, particularly those from underrepresented minorities, to pursue careers in cancer research. The program will achieve this central aim by creating meaningful and rigorous research experiences mentored by outstanding academic and clinical researchers and supplemented with high-impact learning and professional development opportunities. The program combines Northeastern University’s model of co-op education with the outstanding cancer nanomedicine research infrastructure at Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center.”
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Hillman receives funding to study ‘Persistence of Neurocognitive Benefits of Exercise’
“In this 5-year follow-up to the IGNITE exercise intervention study we will examine whether exercise has a delayed or protracted benefit to neurocognitive outcomes including Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology. We will also examine whether we can predict long-term exercise engagement by utilizing the rich biological and psychological data from IGNITE.”
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NSF funding secured for ‘Mobility Data for Communities: Uncovering Segregation, Climate Resilience and Economic Development from Cell-Phone Records’
“In this project, we plan to build a public mobility data platform for the Boston area that will help neighborhoods and communities use cellphone-generated data to address issues of social equity, racial and socioeconomic segregation, economic development and climate resilience.”
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Weng receives Grantham funding to engineer carbon sequestering plant roots
“This project aims to develop engineered plants that produce chemically inert sporopollenin in non-anther tissues for long-term carbon storage. By reconstituting sporopollenin biosynthesis and secretion in roots, inert polymers can be injected into soil. Progress includes identifying sporopollenin biosynthetic genes, developing analytical methods and exploring yeast expression systems. Future work will assess sporopollenin durability in soil and investigate sporopollenin co-polymers in plants. This scalable, self-repairable approach offers a biological solution for atmospheric carbon sequestration.”
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Wales will target ‘SHP-1 through a newfound metabolite-regulated cysteine activation site’
“This new project is focused on chemical manipulation and characterization of SHP-1 based on recent insights, gained in large part from the development of mass spectrometry approaches to map small molecule covalent interactions proteome-wide done in the Chouchani laboratory. My research group will apply hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) mass spectrometry (MS) to investigate conformational changes of SHP-1 upon binding to itaconate and itaconate-mimetics to ascertain if SHP-1 activation leads to conformational rearrangement and then determine where those rearrangements take place within SHP-1. These HDX MS studies will provide solution-based measurements that will complement the X-ray crystallography studies of the same system.”
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Zheng receives Leadership for Inclusion and Diversity Award
Yi Zheng, associate professor of mechanical and industrial engineering, received the 2024 Leadership for Inclusion and Diversity Award from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Asian American Pacific Islanders Commission. Zheng presented a speech at the 16th Annual Unity Dinner before Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg and State Auditor Diana DiZoglio. The award recognized Zheng “as an exceptional leader who has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to fostering inclusivity and diversity.”
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Weng receives Food Allergy Science Initiative funding to understand role of phytochemicals in allergies
“This project investigates the role of phytochemicals in food allergies, focusing on identifying plant secondary metabolites that influence allergic reactions and developing potential therapeutics for food allergies. Jing-Ke Weng’s lab aims to advance understanding of food allergy causes and mechanisms through interdisciplinary research on plant chemistry and its interaction with the human immune system, with the ultimate goal of creating new treatments for food allergies.”
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Weng receives USDA funding to explore cyclic peptide biosynthesis
“Plants offer an enormous chemodiversity that is essential for discovering new medicines, with 25% of all FDA-approved drugs coming from plants. However, the production of plant-derived natural products faces significant challenges. Our research [explores] the biosynthesis and bioengineering of lyciumins and moroidins, two classes of branched cyclic peptides with potential pharmaceutical applications. Lyciumins, inhibitors of the human angiotensin-converting enzyme, come from the Goji berry, while moroidins, derived from the Australian stinging tree, exhibit anti-mitotic activities suitable for cancer therapy. … We propose to advance our understanding of RiPP diversity and biosynthesis, supporting new strategies for their engineering and application in…
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Joshi, Nguyen receive patent for ‘therapeutic protein’-secreting bacteria
Associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology Neel S. Joshi, with student Peter Nguyen, received a patent for “Engineered bacteria that secrete therapeutic polypeptides, pharmaceutical compositions comprising the bacteria, methods for producing recombinant polypeptides and methods for using the bacteria for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.”