Lung Research

Lung failure due to asthma, COPD and other factors is a leading cause of death globally. Respiratory failure is clearly established as the primary cause of death in the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as well.

The mission of the BRI Lung Research Center is to advance understanding of lung biology and disease by: promoting excellence in basic, translational, and clinical lung science, encouraging collaborative opportunities, facilitating philanthropic and new extramural grant support and communicating relevant insights to the external community of scientists, physicians, policy makers and the general public.

Center Overview

Our scientists have led lung cancer detection, staging and treatment including new intraoperative imaging approaches to localize and guide surgical removal of lung cancers, reduce morbidity before and after surgery, and studies of new targeted cancer treatments.

We have contributed to the development of more than 30 study populations for respiratory research with >100,000 subjects subjects for genetic studies ranging from genome-wide association analysis to large-scale DNA sequencing sequencing and transcriptomics, metabolomics, epigenetics, etc. These Precision Medicine efforts are already translating research advances to improved clinical care, such as the development of the BWH Pulmonary Genetics Clinic.

Notably, our research has recently yielded the first-of-its-kind in vitro model of the human lower lung which is enabling active research into how COVID-19 particles travel through our airways and how various therapies such as remdesivir impact virus replication.

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Co-Chairs
Joshua Boyce, MD
Joshua Boyce, MD

Albert L. Sheffer Professor, Medicine, Field of Allergic Disease
Chief, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology

Raphael Bueno, MD
Raphael Bueno, MD

Professor, Surgery
Chief, Division of Thoracic and Cardiac Surgery
Co-Director, The Lung Center and the Lung Research Center

Working Group
Learn More

To learn more about the hospital’s initiatives in lung health, visit the Lung Center of Excellence site. For more information about the BRI Lung Research Center, email bwhbri@partners.org.

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Funding Opportunities