News
Feb 18, 2026
Cutting Costs for Biofuel by Combining Opposing Microbes to Optimize Manufacturing
New research from the Woolston Lab at Northeastern, led by Chemical Engineering Assistant Professor Ben Woolston, is optimizing the biofuel manufacturing process by combining different types of microbes. To do this, they are putting them in the same bioreactor with little oxygen, hoping to reduce cost and resource use in the biofuel industry.
Feb 17, 2026
Patent for Using Nasal Stem Cells to Help Repair Damaged Nerves
ChE Associate Professors Ryan Koppes and Abigail Koppes were awarded a patent for “Differentiation of olfactory mucosa derived mesenchymal stem cells to schwann cells for peripheral nerve repair.”
Feb 13, 2026
Patent for Increasing the Yield and Safety of Essential Cancer Medicines
ChE/COS Associate Professor Carolyn Lee-Parsons was awarded a patent for “Cultivation and treatment of plants for the production of plant-derived drugs.”
Jan 29, 2026
Woolston Receives ARPA-E IGNIITE Award for Biofuel Innovation
ChE Assistant Professor Benjamin Woolston was selected as one of 18 awardees to receive $500K for his project “Combining aerobic and anaerobic metabolism in a single bioreactor for transformative biofuel production metrics from C1 feedstocks” as part of ARPA-E 2025 Inspiring Generations of New Innovators to Impact Technologies in Energy (IGNIITE) program.
Jan 29, 2026
Faculty and Staff Awards 2026
Faculty and staff were recognized at the 28th Annual College of Engineering Faculty and Staff Awards for their exceptional service and dedication in support of students, the COE community, and the university during the 2025-2026 academic year.
Jan 28, 2026
ChE Research Team Featured on Protein Science Cover
Natesan Mani, PhD’26, chemical engineering, Raghavendran Suresh, MS’23, chemical engineering, and ChE/COS Assistant Professor Srirupa Chakraborty had their research on “Cleaved versus Uncleaved: How furin cleavage reshapes the conformational landscape of SARS-CoV-2 spike” featured on the cover of Protein Science.
Jan 28, 2026
Chemical Engineering PhD Student Wins First at Shark Night 2.0
Justin Hayes, PhD’25, chemical engineering, founder and CEO of Concordance Therapeutics, took first place at Boston Shark Night 2.0.
Jan 28, 2026
Barecka and Daramola Selected as Inaugural Advisory Board Members for Chem Circularity
ChE/COS Assistant Professors Magda Barecka and Damilola Daramola were selected to serve as inaugural advisory board members for Chem Circularity.