Category: Research
BU’s Kenneth Lutchen Named AAAS Fellow
Kenneth Lutchen, Boston University’s senior advisor to the president for strategy and innovation, has been named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow. Lutchen is a scholar in respiratory mechanics, an innovative leader in higher education, and dean emeritus and professor of biomedical engineering at the College of Engineering. The world’s largest general scientific society, AAAS annually confers this honor in recognition of those with careers filled with scientific and socially distinguished achievements.
Success! BU Telescope Lands on the Moon Aboard NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission 1
In a historic first for the University, the BU-developed LEXI (Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager) telescope is operating from the lunar surface and will image Earth’s magnetic shield. The X-ray emission data LEXI captures will advance our understanding of the relationship between Earth’s magnetic field and the sun’s solar wind. The telescope is attached to NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 spacecraft, which blasted off from Florida on January 15, 2025 and touched down on March 2, 2025.
Four BU Researchers Win National Honor for Early-Career Scientists and Engineers
Boston University faculty Elizabeth Bettini, Wen Li, Michelle Sander, and Zeba Wunderlich each received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The BU professors’ work includes research in special education, lasers, genes and DNA, and space plasma physics and magnetospheres. There have been just eight previous BU presidential award winners since the accolade was founded nearly 30 years ago.
Bionic Pancreas Company Cofounded by BU Researcher Hits the Stock Market
Beta Bionics, the maker of the iLet Bionic Pancreas (an automated insulin delivery device for people with type 1 diabetes) has gone public, allowing anyone to buy shares in the company. The iLet was invented in the Boston University lab of Ed Damiano, a College of Engineering research professor of biomedical engineering, and a cofounder of Beta Bionics. The company hopes going public will help raise funds for product development and infrastructure expansion.
NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission to Deliver First BU-Engineered Device to the Moon
A telescope created by Brian Walsh, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, and his team, will be hitching a ride on NASA’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander. The Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) will be the first BU-created device to land on another planetary body. “LEXI will image, for the first time, the boundary of Earth’s magnetic field,” Walsh says, and how it deflects solar wind and charged particles emanating from the sun.
Kilachand Fund Boosts Projects on Antiviruses, Brain Imaging, and Antibiotic Resistance
Three projects won awards from the Rajen Kilachand Fund for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering. One project attempts to “solve the design, manufacturing, and delivery challenges of antibodies.” The others are pursuing ways to improve neuroimaging and to counteract antibiotic resistance.
Italy Gives $21 Million to BU’s CARB-X
Italy awarded CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) $21 million to help advance new antibiotics, vaccines, and rapid diagnostics for infections that don’t respond to existing treatments. CARB-X is based at the Boston University School of Law.
Biopharma Company GSK and BU Collaborate on Lung Disease Treatments
A new collaboration between the global biopharma giant and researchers from BU’s Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM) and Boston Medical Center could bring hope to millions around the world with lung diseases. Together, they aim to use CReM-developed lung cells to better understand pulmonary fibrosis and identify new ways to halt or slow the progression of this and other lung diseases.
BU Biomedical Engineer Wins NIH Research Award
Alexander A. Green, an associate professor of biomedical engineering, has been named a 2024 National Institutes of Health Director’s Transformative Research Award winner. By tracking the forces involved when cells interact, as in cell-based cancer therapies, Green aims to learn how to control cell behavior and develop potent disease treatments.
BU Team Wins Grant to Train PhD Students to Counter Climate Change
Malika Jeffries-EL, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of chemistry, along with a team of BU researchers, has been awarded a $3 million National Science Foundation Research Traineeship grant (NRT) to help PhD students collaborate across disciplines to develop new ideas to convert and store sustainable energy sources.
