Boston University Center for Network Systems Biology

From Dr. Andrew Emili: "Big thank you to Prof. Francesca Seta and wonderful BU+BMC faculty at WCVI. Great to give in-person talk (after 2-year delay!) to engaged scientific group, lots of follow-up avenues. Tatte lunch also appreciated (perk for many who braved the cold!). Lets hope re-opening lasts…"

CNSB welcomes Yashasvi Tharani, an undergraduate student in
Biology studying immunology and stem cells. She will be working with Matthew Lawton on the identification of downstream signaling pathway of TIM-3, a T-cell inhibitory receptor.

RISE 2021 summer student Devansh, alongside Ahmed Yousseff, created an interactive web tool for computational protein network analysis using code in R. It compares networks and compute analyses like network overlap, differential connectivity of genes, and biological pathway enrichment! See his work below.

Getting up to full speed this summer! CNSB is pleased to welcome Ben Fitzsimmons, a new graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering program. Ben's research will focus on the discovery of exogenous ligands to human nuclear receptors!

CNSB is pleased to welcome Stanley Goldstein, a new graduate student from the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics. Stanley's research will focus on the elucidation of drug targets using a chemoproteomic approach.

New CDC guidelines and vaccination rates give us hope of being able to return our lab to normal operations in the near future. In the meantime, we were able to take advantage of the nice weather to safely meet outside for some food, frisbee, and fun!

Exciting new 'protocol primer' for state of the art proteomics now going live. Proud to co-author with an illustrious list of colleagues to bring this to fruition. Read here:

Subcellular proteomics This Primer discusses methods for characterizing the subcellular location and organization of cellular proteins. The authors outline methods for generating spatially resolved proteomics data and describe tools and considerations for data analysis, before discussing the applications of these methods....

Lab Manager Ryan Hekman pauses while filming videos on sample preparation and mass spectrometry maintenance. The final series of videos will help instruct future members of the lab in specialized protocols.

Our recent research publication on COVID-19 has been making waves. Read coverage from SciTech Daily (https://scitechdaily.com/researchers-discover-how-the-covid-19-virus-hijacks-and-rapidly-damages-human-lung-cells/) and Science Daily (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201202114502.htm)

Researchers determine how the SARS-CoV-2 virus hijacks and rapidly causes damage to human lung cells: Identify clinically approved medications that can be re-purposed for COVID-19 treatment Researchers have identified host proteins and pathways in lung cells whose levels change upon infection by the SARS-CoV-2, providing insights into disease pathology and new therapeutic targets to block COVID-19.

Out now in Molecular Cell! The culmination of many long hours of work and many hands, our newest paper on SARS-CoV-2 research, "Actionable Cytopathogenic Host Responses of Human Alveolar Type 2 Cells to SARS-CoV-2" is now up online. Read here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1097276520308285?via%3Dihub

Working under strict safety protocols, CNSB has managed to continue operations on some exciting projects. Here, our mass spectrometer specialist, Ryan, has been busy making sure all our instruments are running well. Familiar with the mysteries of their inner workings, he optimizes their methods to make the most out of our samples, some of which he's prepared from SARSCoV2 -infected cells.

In early October members of the lab took advantage of the nice weather to spread out at a local park for a picnic and enjoy some non-Zoom time together.