Northeastern University

Computational Oncology of Chemotaxis-Driven Tumour–Immune Spatial Patterning and Stability

We develop a reaction–diffusion–chemotaxis model for spatial tumour–immune–chemokine dynamics that couples logistic tumour growth, immune-mediated killing, chemokine-dependent immune recruitment, chemotactic migration, and signal production. For the non-dimensional system, we est...

Leveraging the private sector for health system development in sub-Saharan Africa

Development assistance has historically supported major gains in health and health-system development in sub-Saharan Africa, but recent reductions in development assistance have intensified financing and service-delivery pressures across the region. As governments seek more durab...

Brush-mediated angular constraints reshape structure, rigidity, and percolation in colloidal depletion gels

Colloidal gels, like many other soft and disordered solids derive their mechanical properties not only from the strength of interparticle attraction but also from the symmetry of the forces that constrain particle motion. Although noncentral interactions are known to profoundly a...

Structural causal influence captures the forces of social inequality in models of infectious disease

Abstract Mathematical models are central to understanding disease transmission for host–pathogen systems across the biosphere. However, most existing frameworks do not explicitly treat host population heterogeneity as a formal driver of variation in transmission dynamics. This ga...

Education about gender development predicts support for transgender youth’s gender identity autonomy

Most adults have limited understanding of child development, yet their perceptions of development influence their decisions about whether to support children’s autonomy—such as support for autonomy-limiting anti-transgender legislation. This work found that adult participants bel...

Algebraic characterization of equivalence between oracle-based iterative algorithms

Abstract When are two algorithms the same? How can we be sure a recently proposed algorithm is novel, and not a minor variation on an existing method? In this paper, we present a framework for reasoning about equivalence between a broad class of iterative algorithms, with a focus...

Non-local physics-informed neural networks for forward and inverse solutions of granular flows

Abstract Dense granular flows exhibit nonlocal effects due to stress transmission in microplastic events, especially in quasi-static or slowly sheared regions. Hence, traditional local rheological models fail to capture spatial cooperativity effects that are prominent in many gra...

RobustCell: a model attack-defense framework for robust transcriptomic data analysis

Abstract Computational methods should be accurate and robust for tasks in biology and medicine, especially when facing different types of attacks, defined as perturbations of benign data that can cause a significant drop in method performance. Therefore, there is a need for robus...

Scanning X-ray microdiffraction studies of protein accumulation and tissue loss in thin sections of human brain tissue in Alzheimer’s disease

Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease is characterized by accumulation of pathological protein deposits including Aβ plaques, tau tangles and diffuse neuropil threads accompanied by wide-spread tissue loss. While dense protein deposits are readily observed by conventional meth...

Directed Evolution of an Escherichia coli Secretor Strain Using the Curli Pathway

Abstract A key goal of many bacterial engineering projects is to produce protein, due to their potent chemical and material functions. However, recombinant proteins are usually produced intracellularly, and secreting arbitrary proteins directly into an extracellular environment i...

Psychoactive Medication Prescribing After Critical Illness in American Adults Not Justified by a Documented Supporting Diagnosis

Objectives: To describe psychoactive medication (PM) prescribing in the 30 days after an ICU admission requiring mechanical ventilation not supported by a documented diagnosis in American adults not prescribed a PM before ICU admission. This nondiagnostically supported PM prescri...

Oxidative Electrochemical Coupling Between Bi and Mn in Rechargeable Alkaline MnO2 Cathodes

Abstract The Bi-modified MnO2 cathode is an enabling technology for rechargeable alkaline Zn batteries, which are under intense study for low-cost, sustainable, non-flammable grid-scale energy storage. Although the effect of Bi on MnO2 rechargeability has been known for decades,...

Mitochondrial subpopulations in oocytes and cumulus cells exhibit distinct age-associated changes and selective plasticity in response to NMN supplementation

Abstract Background Mitochondrial dysfunction is a leading contributor to the decline in oocyte quality associated with maternal aging. Prior investigations of mitochondrial function in the ovarian follicle have largely treated the mitochondrial pool as a homogeneous population,...

Ribosomal protein bL27 protects translating ribosomes from tmRNA-SmpB

Bacterial ribosomal protein bL27 is universally conserved, and its amino terminus is adjacent to the peptidyl transfer center, yet its roles in translation remain unclear. Combining genetics, biochemistry, and molecular dynamics, we show that bL27 has an unexpected role in preven...

Structural insights into a substrate translocation pathway revealed by the RND efflux pump complex MexJK from Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Resistance–nodulation–cell division (RND) efflux pumps are the major cause of multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa . The inner membrane protein MexK from P. aeruginosa is a narrow-spectrum RND transporter. It assembles with membrane fusion protein MexJ and outer membran...

Controlling the Performanceof Light-Activated Color-ChangingCoatings Using Semiconductor Crystal Structure, Redox-Active Colorants,and Bulk Matrix Composition

Abstract Nonemissive display technologies, such as e-ink and e-paper, have emerged as reconfigurable alternatives to single-use printed materials that become solid waste. These draw considerably less power than emissive displays but rely on traditional electronic circuitry and co...

Tuning Carbonate Solvation via Electrolyte Engineering Toward Robust Low-Temperature Lithium Metal Batteries

Abstract Conventional ethylene carbonate (EC)-based electrolytes are dominated by strong Li+-solvent coordination, which leads to sluggish reaction kinetics at low-temperature and severe interfacial side reactions under high-voltage operation. Herein, a ternary electrolyte with w...

Water Governance Under International Pressure: Policy Narratives, Food Security, Scarcity, and the Politics of Survival in Iran

ABSTRACT Water governance is increasingly influenced by a paradox at the nexus of environmental scarcity and food security. Escalating water scarcity crises coincide with geopolitical disruptions that have exposed the fragility of global food supply chains, prompting states to ex...

Four years on: following the pathway to real world impact of engineering research

Here we present five short case studies in which key authors of papers originally published in Communications Engineering in 2022 describe the impact of their work four years on. These reflections provide a glimpse of what the papers meant for the key researchers involved, their...