{"id":144355,"date":"2023-09-20T12:57:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-20T16:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/?p=144355"},"modified":"2023-09-20T13:27:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-20T17:27:29","slug":"eng-faculty-win-ignition-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/2023\/09\/20\/eng-faculty-win-ignition-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"ENG Faculty Win Ignition Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Researchers earn honors, funds for tech targeting cancer, respiratory diseases<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By David Levin<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

ENG faculty members Mark Grinstaff<\/a>, Wilson Wong<\/a>, and B\u00e9la Suki<\/a> <\/span>have won 2023 BU Ignition Awards.<\/p>\n

Given by\u00a0<\/span>BU Technology Development<\/a>, the awards are designed to accelerate the advancement of promising new science and technology.<\/p>\n

In addition to a financial grant, award winners receive coaching and support to bring their innovations to market, helping them more easily make the move from academic research to a tangible proof-of-concept required for a company to invest. If successful, the 2023 cohort of scientists and engineers may become Boston\u2019s newest entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

Fighting Cancer with Supercharged T Cells<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Mark Grinstaff (BME, MSE)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Many cancer therapies today recruit the body\u2019s own immune system to fight tumors. One such exciting immunotherapy involves removing T cells (a type of white blood cell) from a patient\u2019s body, genetically reprogramming them to seek and destroy cancerous cells, and then injecting them back into the body to carry out their orders. But each round of these treatments is only active for a short amount of time before losing steam.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Wilson Wong (BME)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mark Grinstaff<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>Wilson Wong<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>are developing a new way to coax these modified immune cells, called CAR T cells, into attacking their targets for longer periods and with greater levels of intensity. By introducing a specialized RNA molecule into T cells, the researchers force the cells to express more cancer-targeting proteins on their surface, making them more likely to find and destroy tumors. If successful, this technology will make existing immunotherapies far more effective. Grinstaff is the University\u2019s inaugural Distinguished Professor of Translational Research and Wong is an associate professor of biomedical engineering<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mimicking the Human Lung<\/h3>\n
\"\"
Bela Suki (BME)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the moment, there\u2019s no cure for major respiratory diseases like asthma, emphysema, and fibrosis. Part of the reason, says\u00a0<\/span>B\u00e9la Suki, an ENG professor of biomedical engineering<\/a>, is that it\u2019s hard to test new drugs in the lab: animal lungs aren\u2019t true analogs for human tissue, and cells grown in a dish can\u2019t replicate our breathing\u2014or the complex biochemical signals it triggers in lung tissue.<\/p>\n

Suki has developed a new device, called AccuStretch, that may solve this problem. The device mounts precision-cut lung tissue from organ donors onto a flexible membrane that constantly stretches and relaxes, mimicking real breaths. He has also created a new way to measure the stiffness of the tissue, another key component of lung disease. Using powerful image processing software developed in his lab, Suki\u2019s system can analyze the position of tiny fluorescent dots embedded in the flexible membrane, offering real-time data on the physical properties of the tissue.<\/p>\n

Read about all the winners at The Brink<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ENG faculty Mark Grinstaff, Wilson Wong, and B\u00e9la Suki have won 2023 BU Ignition Awards. Given by BU Technology Development, the awards aim to advance promising new science and technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21681,"featured_media":141190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[236,1081,899,1034,1080],"tags":[715,656,633],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21681"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144355"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":144374,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144355\/revisions\/144374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}