We are pleased to announce that 50 investigators, from across BMC and the BU Medical & Charles River campuses, applied to the Integrated Pilot Award Program, sponsored by the BU Clinical and Translational Science Institute. From our pool of applications, 10 outstanding pilot projects were selected for funding, totaling an allocation of $373,600. We congratulate all of the recipients and look forward to their impactful contributions to translational research.

Elizabeth Taglauer, MD, PhD

Lead PI

Placental Repository to Improve Infant Lung Outcomes in Preeclampsia 

Through the PRIME study, Dr. Taglauer will seek to identify unique signaling proteins from preeclamptic placentas that are connected with pathways of lung and gut developmental injury. The study will also be creating a highly valuable biorepository of preeclamptic placental samples that will be available for collaborative studies.

Jeffrey Campbell, MD, MPH

Lead PI

Karen Jacobson, MD, MPH

William G. Adams, MD

Jessica Haberer, MD, MS

Robert Horsburgh, Jr, MD

Heather E. Hsu, MD, MPH

Helen E. Jenkins PhD, MSC, BSC

Vishakha Sabharwal, MD

Validity, Acceptability, and Utility of Electronic Health Record

Household Linking

In this project, the team plans to evaluate how effective household linkage tools are by interviewing patients about their household membership, and cross-referencing their descriptions of household composition with household membership gathered through electronic health record linking. They will focus on a key disease that clusters within families, but for which there are few family-level care options: latent tuberculosis infection. 

Sheila Russo PhD

Lead PI

Anand Devaiah, MD

Urvashi Upadhyay, MD

A soft-Foldable Robotic Retractor with Integrated Pressure Sensing to Reduce Tissue Trauma in Neurosurgery and Skull Base Surgery

This pilot project will focus on the design, development, and evaluation of a novel soft robotic neurosurgical retractor to tackle current clinical barriers in neurological surgery and skull base surgery. The proposed system is designed to facilitate neurosurgery by creating a minimally invasive surgical workspace in the brain (through expansion and unfolding of pneumatically driven origami-inspired

soft robotic actuators) and monitor robot/tissue interaction (via soft capacitive pressure sensors).

Wilson Wong, PhD

Lead PI

Mark Grinstaff, PhD

Self-Amplifying RNA Mediated Immunoglobulin Delivery for the Treatment

of Breast Cancer

The goal of this project is to leverage a novel self-amplifying RNA (saRNA) technology developed by the Grinstaff and Wong lab to deliver an antibody for the treatment of breast cancer. Success from our work could provide better control of HER2-positive breast cancer progression by reducing tumor volume and extending survival compared to direct intravenous injection of chemotherapy.

Tommaso Ranzani, PhD

Lead PI

Jeffrey Siracuse, MD, MBA

A Soft Robotic Catheter for Percutaneous Management of Non-compressible Torso Hemorrhage

This project focuses on developing a novel device to enable controllable occlusion of the aorta to allow stabilization of the hemorrhage without completely cutting off blood flow to the lower extremities.The device will be designed to provide a safer alternative to current devices for management of non-compressible hemorrhage. It will be easy to use by enabling automation of the hemorrhage control process via robotic technologies.

Gael Osmond, PhD 

Lead PI

Kristin Long, PhD

Developing a Family-Based Program to Enhance Autonomy in Adults

with Down Syndrome

The current project focuses on improving daily quality of life of adults with Down syndrome. The team will use a community-engaged qualitative approach to develop an online family-based program to promote autonomy in adults with

Down syndrome. They will use a community-engaged qualitative approach to develop an online family-based program to promote autonomy in adults with Down syndrome. Building on prior work by our multidisciplinary research team, they will develop Project REACH (Ready to Enhance Autonomy in the Community and Home) – a community-based short-term program, delivered via telehealth, individualized for each family, and focused on skill-building.

Manish V. Bais, PhD, DVM

Lead PI

Minh-Tam Truong, MD

Radiation Therapy Resistance Promoted by LSD1 in Oral Cancer

The study showed that only 20-30% of tumors respond to RT. Thus, there is an unmet clinical need to identify radiosensitizers. The team has identified an epigenetic regulator, Lysine-specific demethylase 1 (LSD1), which promotes oral and resistance to RT. They expect to evaluate the novel mechanisms that LSD1 promotes DNA damage repair response signaling pathways and inhibition, which could promote sensitivity to RT using a mouse model and pathway analysis.

Katherine Rizzolo, MD

Lead PI

Dialysis Modality Education Access for Latinx Individuals

with Kidney Disease

Pre-dialysis kidney disease education is associated with significantly higher odds

of patient-centered preparation for dialysis amongst Latinx individuals. However, Latinx people are less likely to receive adequate kidney dialysis education prior

to dialysis, and are more likely to report lack of shared decision-making with

their clinician.The aim of this study is to 1) qualitatively evaluate the dialysis modality education experience for Latinx people with kidney disease and their clinicians and 2) establish a community research steering committee to co-design culturally tailored dialysis modality educational materials for Latinx individuals

with kidney disease.

Kim Vanuytsel, PhD

Lead PI

Jean-Antoine Rebel, MD, PhD

In-depth Profiling of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cells (HSPCs) to Advance Gene Therapy and Transplantation Approaches

Sickle cell disease is associated with chronic inflammation of the bone marrow, affecting HSPCs residing in that niche. To better understand how this inflammation impacts their function and expression profile, the team will perform an in-depth characterization of SCD HSPCs, combining functional, transcriptional and cell surface profiling. This work will form the basis for an updated clinical workflow, enabling more accurate stem cell quantification. 

Justin Lui, MD, MS

Lead PI

Andreea Bujor, MD, PhD

Michael P. Lavalley, BA, MS, PhD

Cardiopulmonary Biomarkers of Systemic Sclerosis

In this proposal, the team will investigate the role of cardiac disease using an advanced imaging approach, termed speckle-tracking echocardiography, that measures subclinical myocardial deformation to identify and create a library of associated protein biomarkers in the blood. The goal is to unravel potential mechanistic pathways to explain cardiac contributors to pulmonary hypertension for determining why these patients have such poor clinical outcomes.