Measuring the impact of fundamental research is never easy, in part because it may take decades for the full impact of a discovery to be obvious. Research on the immunogenicity of mRNA and its alteration through chemical modification seemed quite obscure until a globe engulfing virus triggered a pandemic that was dramatically quenched by vaccines made possible by that ‘obscure’ research. It may take a while for effective therapies to emerge from our research. But the possibility of our work making an impact is the driver that keeps us going. Engineering in a biological context—whether it be a novel device for assisting the visually impaired, a 3D printed vascular system for tissue engineering; a new paradigm for design of asthma therapies—always has the potential of great impact. In this report, you will find a few stories of the research that we at Northeastern are doing now and get a glimpse of our hopes for its impact in the future.
