Researchers affiliated with the CNSB are very active in multiple covid-related collaborative efforts:

1. Using systems biology and quantitative mass spectrometry-based approaches to study how the virus hijacks the host cellular protein machinery. Evidence suggests replication via a network of viral protein interactions with human cell surface receptors, as well as intracellular signaling, and metabolic and biomolecular replicative pathways. We aim to find actionable targets to boost adaptive cell- and tissue-level host responses in human and animal models.
2. Using chemical proteomics to characterize potential anti-viral ligands and study the mechanism-of-action of all bioactive compound leads or ‘hits’ emerging from ongoing screens by our collaborators at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) to enhance their translational impact.

Network Systems Biology aims to describe the physical and functional interactions of cellular biomolecules that mediate the diverse complex biological processes crucial to human health and disease. It is the focus of the Center for Network Systems Biology, and an emerging strength of Boston University. Elucidating the biological networks that support human health and development normally, and which go awry in pathology, is fundamental to a deeper mechanistic understanding of biological and disease processes.