Boston University - Clinical & Translational Science Institute

The COSMID (Comparison of Surgery and Medicine on the Impact of Diverticulitis) trial is a pragmatic, patient-level randomized superiority trial of elective colectomy vs. best medical management for patients with quality of life (QoL) limiting diverticular disease. A parallel observational cohort will include those who are disinclined to have their treatment choice randomized, but are willing to contribute information about their outcomes. The goal of the COSMID trial is to answer the question: For patients with QoL-limiting diverticular disease, is elective colectomy more effective than best medical management? The hypothesis being tested in the COSMID trial is that patient-reported outcomes (PROs) among patients in the surgery arm will be superior to those in the best medical management arm.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2019

open study

Although multiple treatments for OCD exist, slow symptom decrease, high remission, and significant side effects for some OCD patients limit their efficacy. More research into the precise neural mechanisms and linked cognitive functions in OCD is also necessary. To address both concerns, this study by Dr. Reinhart and his team will test a new, non-invasive, and well-tolerated neuromodulation method for reducing OCD symptoms, based on reward-related rhythms of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC; a brain region responsible for reward, decision making and other crucial functions that is affected by OCD). This proposal is based on highly encouraging preliminary data in both subsyndromal and treatment-resistant populations that shows rapid reductions in OCD behaviors that last at least 1-3 months. Using high-definition transcranial alternating current stimulation (HD-tACS) guided by EEG brain wave recordings, the study will test whether repetitive modulation of relevant rhythm activity in the OFC can lead to rapid (within five days) and sustainable (up to three months) OCD symptom reduction. This research aims to increase knowledge of OCD and development of effective treatment with minimal side effects.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jul 2024

open study

The purpose of this clinical trial is to learn about the safety, extent of the side effects, and immune responses of the study vaccine (called variant-adapted BNT162b2 RNA-based vaccine) in healthy children. The trial is divided into 5 individual studies or substudies based on age group and prior history of COVID-19 vaccinations. All participants in each of the 5 sub-studies will receive study vaccine as a shot depending on what group they are in. - Substudy A design: Phase 1 includes participants 6 months through less than 4 years 3 months of age who have not received a previous coronavirus vaccination (COVID-19 vaccine naïve) and will receive 3 doses of study vaccine as their initial series, followed by a fourth dose of study vaccine. Phase 2/3 includes participants 6 months through less than 5 years of age who have not received a previous coronavirus vaccination (COVID-19 vaccine naive) and will receive 1, 2, or 3 doses of study vaccine, depending on what group they are in. - Substudy B design: includes participants 6 months through less than 5 years of age who have either received 2 or 3 prior doses of BNT162b2 and will receive study vaccine as their third or fourth dose. - Substudy C design: Phase 1 includes participants 6 months through less than 5 years of age who have received 3 prior doses of BNT162b2 and will receive study vaccine as their fourth dose. - Substudy D design: includes participants 5 through less than12 years of age who have received 2 or 3 prior doses of BNT162b2 and will receive study vaccine as their third or fourth dose. - Substudy E design: includes participants 5 through less than 12 years of age who have not received a previous coronavirus vaccination (COVID-19 vaccine naive) and will receive a single dose of study vaccine.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Sep 2022

open study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy, safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics (PK) of VX-147 in adult and pediatric participants with apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1)-mediated proteinuric kidney disease.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2022

open study

Purpose: About 6.4% of the U.S. population suffers from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma-focused psychotherapies are generally effective in PTSD, but responses vary greatly across individuals and PTSD subpopulations. Neurobiological factors impacted by life experiences, stress, and genetics can affect treatment responses. These factors can alter brain capacities needed to reprocess traumatic memories prevent them from triggering intensely distressing, disruptive, out-of-place responses. For example, during psychotherapy for PTSD, trauma memory activation engages two competing brain processes that affect recovery: "extinction" versus "reconsolidation" of trauma-related emotional, physiological, and behavioral responses. This study tests whether a single intravenous (IV) dose of allopregnanolone (Allo) compared to placebo (which is non-active): 1. promotes consolidation of extinction learning (sub-study 1) or 2. blocks reconsolidation physiological responses triggered by aversive memories (sub-study 2). The study also tests whether Allo compared to placebo affects retention of non-aversive memories.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2022

open study

The treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in an accessible manner represents an unmet need for those with cardiovascular disease (CVD), given that patients with CVD experience numerous barriers for in-person treatment engagement. The research plan for the proposed pilot project will entail: (1) open study of the acceptability of the digital intervention (N=5), followed by (2) recruitment and randomization of 90 individuals with a history of acute CVD events and clinical levels of GAD symptoms to dCBT or a waitlist (Control) condition, using a 1.5:1 allocation (dCBT:Control).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2022

open study

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn about the processes occurring in the kidneys while under heat stress in healthy volunteers. The main questions it aims to answer are: - How do the chemicals produced by the body change under conditions of higher versus lower heat stress? - What role does a specific area of the body's metabolism, known as NAD+ metabolism, play in the body's response to heat stress, and can this response be modified by taking vitamin B3?

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2026

open study

This study aims to check how safe and well-tolerated a second dose of RSVpreF is when given during later pregnancies, and to see how long the immunity lasts from a single dose given during a previous pregnancy by examining the blood of nonpregnant participants who had the vaccine before.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Apr 2025

open study

This Phase III, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled treat-through study will evaluate the efficacy and safety of induction and maintenance therapy with Afimkibart (also known as RO7790121) in participants with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease (CD).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2025

open study

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the efficacy and safety of extended TARPEYO® (delayed-release budesonide capsules) treatment in adult patients with primary IgA nephropathy who have completed 9 months of TARPEYO® 16 mg once daily treatment in real-world clinical practice. The main question it aims to answer is: Is there a treatment benefit of TARPEYO® 16 mg QD extended use? Participants will - take part in this study for about 19 months - Have urine tests done - Have blood samples taken - Have physical examinations done

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2024

open study

Transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR) is a disease where the normally occurring transthyretin (TTR) protein falls apart and forms amyloid, a sticky plaque- like substance that accumulates in different organs in the body and can cause damage to the organ. There are two ways that the TTR protein can fall apart. One way occurs as a person ages, where the normal TTR protein can fall apart and form amyloid that may no longer be sufficiently cleared by the body. This type of ATTR is known as wild-type ATTR (ATTRwt). The other way occurs when a person inherits a defective TTR gene that causes the TTR protein to spontaneously fall apart. This form of the disease is known as variant ATTR (ATTRv) and can be detected in adults by a genetic test of their TTR gene before they age. Amyloid build-up in the heart causes the heart wall to become thick and stiff and can result in heart failure and even death. Accumulation of TTR amyloid in the heart is known as transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy or ATTR-CM. Amyloid can also deposit in the nerve tissues leading to nerve problems. Accumulation of TTR in the nerves is known as transthyretin amyloid polyneuropathy or ATTR-PN. Acoramidis is an experimental drug designed to bind tightly to TTR in the blood and stabilize its structure, so it does not form the harmful amyloid plaques that can cause damage to organs. This study is intended to determine if treatment with acoramidis in participants with ATTRv who have not yet developed any symptoms of disease can prevent or delay the development of ATTR-CM or ATTR-PN disease. If adults with an inherited defective TTR gene are treated early before any of the symptoms of disease have developed, it may be possible to delay the onset or prevent the disease entirely.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2025

open study

The purpose of this open-label, multicenter, phase IIIb, single-arm study is to characterize the efficacy and safety of the combination of ribociclib and standard adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET) on invasive breast cancer-free survival (iBCFS), in a close to clinical practice patient population with HR-positive (HR+), HER2-negative (HER2-), Anatomic Stage Group III, IIB, and a subset of Stage IIA Early Breast Cancer (EBC).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2024

open study

The phase III trial compares the effect of pembrolizumab to observation for the treatment of patients with early-stage triple-negative breast cancer who achieved a pathologic complete response after preoperative chemotherapy in combination with pembrolizumab. Immunotherapy with monoclonal antibodies, such as pembrolizumab, may help the body's immune system attack the cancer, and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. This trial may help researchers determine if observation will result in the same risk of cancer coming back as pembrolizumab after surgery in triple-negative breast cancer patients who achieve pathologic complete response after preoperative chemotherapy with pembrolizumab.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jun 2023

open study

This study is designed as a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, parallel group, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of iptacopan (LNP023) in idiopathic immune complex mediated membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2023

open study

The main aim of this study is to learn if fazirsiran reduces liver scarring (fibrosis) compared to placebo. Other aims are to learn if fazirsiran slows down the disease worsening in the liver, to get information on how fazirsiran affects the body (called pharmacodynamics), to learn if fazirsiran reduces other liver injury (inflammation) and the abnormal Z-AAT protein in the liver, to get information on how the body processes fazirsiran (called pharmacokinetics), to test how well fazirsiran works compared with a placebo in improving measures of liver scarring including imaging and liver biomarkers (substances in the blood that the body normally makes and help show if liver function is improving, staying the same, or getting worse) as well as to check for side effects in participants treated with fazirsiran compared with those who received placebo. Participants will either receive fazirsiran or placebo. Liver biopsies, a way of collecting a small tissue sample from the liver, will be taken twice during this study.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2023

open study

This phase III trial compares the effect of modified fluorouracil, leucovorin calcium, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan (mFOLFIRINOX) to modified fluorouracil, leucovorin calcium, and oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX) for the treatment of advanced, unresectable, or metastatic HER2 negative esophageal, gastroesophageal junction, and gastric adenocarcinoma. The usual approach for patients is treatment with FOLFOX chemotherapy. Chemotherapy drugs work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Fluorouracil stops cells from making DNA and it may kill tumor cells. Leucovorin is used with fluorouracil to enhance the effects of the drug. Oxaliplatin works by killing, stopping, or slowing the growth of tumor cells. Some patients also receive an immunotherapy drug, nivolumab, in addition to FOLFOX chemotherapy. Immunotherapy may induce changes in body's immune system and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. Irinotecan blocks certain enzymes needed for cell division and DNA repair, and it may kill tumor cells. Adding irinotecan to the FOLFOX regimen could shrink the cancer and extend the life of patients with advanced gastroesophageal cancers.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2023

open study

This phase III trial compares total ablative therapy and usual systemic therapy to usual systemic therapy alone in treating patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to up to 4 body sites (limited metastatic). The usual approach for patients who are not participating in a study is treatment with intravenous (IV) (through a vein) and/or oral medications (systemic therapy) to help stop the cancer sites from getting larger and the spread of the cancer to additional body sites. Ablative means that the intention of the local treatment is to eliminate the cancer at that metastatic site. The ablative local therapy will consist of very focused, intensive radiotherapy called stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) with or without surgical resection and/or microwave ablation, which is a procedure where a needle is temporarily inserted in the tumor and heat is used to destroy the cancer cells. SABR, surgical resection, and microwave ablation have been tested for safety, but it is not scientifically proven that the addition of these treatments are beneficial for your stage of cancer. The addition of ablative local therapy to all known metastatic sites to the usual approach of systemic therapy could shrink or remove the tumor(s) or prevent the tumor(s) from returning.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Oct 2023

open study

This Phase II/III trial will evaluate the what kind of chemotherapy to recommend to patients based on the presence or absences of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) after surgery for colon cancer.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2022

open study

Scleroderma (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis (or collagen deposition) of the skin and internal organs. The extent of skin fibrosis is an important predictor of internal organ complications and increased mortality. Currently a very imprecise, subjective method that varies amongst different doctors for the same patient is used to quantify skin fibrosis in patients, by "pinching" their skin and assessing how thick it is; this is the method used to determine the modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS). A previous plot study was conducted by the investigators to determine if spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI), a method of light scattering, could be used to measure the collagen content in the skin of SSc patients. This non-painful, noninvasive method takes very little time and the investigators hypothesized that it would be more accurate than the "pinching" method. For that pilot study, patients with various stages of the disease were selected, and SFDI was used to image 6 areas. A forearm skin biopsy was taken for subsequent histopathology analyses of collagen content. The clinical mRSS was assessed at the time of SFDI measurement. Optical property imaging data was analyzed and statistically correlated and analyzed with immunohistochemistry (a method of identifying proteins) of the skin. Preliminary results demonstrated a strong correlation between mRSS and SFDI. Some of the imaging parameters of the SFDI were modified based on the initial results. Initial results demonstrated that the device can detect increases in skin thickness observed in SSc skin.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Nov 2025

open study

Hospital discharge is a dangerous time for patients: one in five will suffer an adverse event, such as a medication error, and nearly 25% will be readmitted within 30 days. This time is even more dangerous for patients with who face communication barriers, including those with non-English language preference (NELP), low health literacy, and the elderly. The investigators will pilot a post-discharge educational intervention to reinforce written discharge instructions (known as the After Visit Summary or AVS) using a randomized controlled trial design (2:1 intervention: control). The control group will receive current standard of care discharge education which includes a nurse reviewing their AVS and an automated call in English that allows patients to numerically select types of problems/questions that are then escalated to a nurse who should return their call within a few days. The intervention group will receive the standard of care discharge education with the AVS and an additional post-discharge educational call delivered by a registered nurse or other qualified health professional with the option to have written instructions professionally translated and sent via MyChart message--if available in their preferred language.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Jan 2026

open study

The main purpose of this study is to compare the effect of tebapivat versus placebo on anemia and to detect a dose-response for hemoglobin (Hb) response in participants with SCD.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: May 2025

open study

The main goal of this trial is to study the frequency and severity of cytokine release syndrome (CRS) in participants with relapsed or refractory (R/R) aggressive B-cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (DLBCL) who are using a combination of glofitamab + gemcitabine + oxaliplatin (Glofit-GemOx) followed by glofitamab-only treatment.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Mar 2025

open study

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the behavior analytic intervention in reducing the number of challenging behaviors exhibited by patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) while increasing compliance with needle-related simulations and procedures. A second purpose is to assess the social validity of this study as evidenced by patient and/or caregiver acceptability. The study wil take place at Boston Medical Center (BMC). A Single Subject Design (SSD) wil be utilized as it allows for detailed, individualized assessment of how interventions affect behavior over time in this type of behavior analytic research. By focusing on each participant as an individual and having each participant act as their own control, it demonstrates clear cause-and-effect relationships, showing how behavior changes with the introduction or withdrawal of an intervention. This method is flexible, enabling ongoing adjustments to treatments based on real-time data, making it particularly useful in personalized interventions and ensuring effectiveness for patients with unique needs such as those who would be eligible to enroll and participate in this study.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Feb 2026

open study

Given the thicker cortical bone in the mandible compared to the maxilla, mandibular teeth cannot be effectively anesthetized via local infiltration anesthesia. Instead, clinicians typically perform regional anesthesia and most commonly, Inferior Alveolar Nerve block (IANB). However, the inferior alveolar nerve is deeply submerged by surrounding structures of bone, muscles, ligaments and vessels. Traditional IANB is a technique by using anatomical landmarks not directly related to Inferior Alveolar Nerve (IAN) to approximate the location of mandibular foramen, where IAN enters mandible. IANB is considered a blind technique and known for the lack of accuracy and precision. The failure rate can be as high as 30-45%. In contrast, the investigator's cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) guided IANB device (IANBD) effectively directs the needle to the mandibular foramen which improves the success rate of the IANB on the first attempt, minimizes injection tissue damage, and reduces patient discomfort. In this proof of concept trial, a 3D printed CBCT guided IANBD will be used to administer anesthesia at three injection sites instead of the traditional IANB technique. Participants will be consented patients at the postdoctoral endodontic treatment center, Department of Endodontics, Boston University (BU) Henry M. Goldman School of Dentistry. The goal of this research is to to evaluate the acceptability, safety, and effectiveness of guided anesthesia using the IANBD by enrolling 10 subjects who require non-surgical endodontic therapy with a simple, affordable and reliable prototype to be used by clinicians in the dental care setting.

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2025

open study

The primary purpose of the study is to assess how well amivantamab in combination with lazertinib or in combination with chemotherapy works (antitumor activity) in participants with epidermal growth factor receptor mutated (EGFRm) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC; that is one of the major types of lung cancer).

Type: Interventional

Start Date: Dec 2024

open study