Michelle Teplensky Wins 2026 CMBE Rising Star Award

Michelle Teplensky, PhD (2024 BYI) received the Biomedical Engineering Society’s 2026 Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) Rising Star Award. The award honors early-stage investigators who apply engineering to healthcare. Teplensky earned the distinction for research—led by PhD student Ezra Cho—using nanomaterials to enhance and personalize vaccine potency, recently published in PNAS. By tuning how vaccine components are released inside cells, the team can shape immune responses and potentially generate stronger, more tailored antibodies across diverse populations, including those with varying ages, sexes, or immune strengths. Teplensky highlights the advantages of nanomaterials, the cross-disciplinary nature of the work at Boston University, and her lab’s commitment to inclusivity. She will present the team’s findings at the 2026 CMBE Awards Symposium.

In addition, Michelle Teplensky, PhD published in PNAS: "Modulating antigen processing through metal–organic frameworks to bias adaptive immunity."