Oakes Receives ISAM 2025 Young Investigator Award
BioE Associate Professor Jessica Oakes received the International Society for Aerosols in Medicine (ISAM) 2025 Young Investigator Award. This award recognizes a scientist under 40 who has made significant contributions to the field of aerosols in medicine. Oakes will be honored for her work at the ISAM Congress 2025 conference in Washington, DC, this June.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Alena Kuzub. Main photo: Jessica Oakes, an associate professor of bioengineering at Northeastern University, studies how inhaled substances can help or harm human lungs. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
Northeastern bioengineering professor honored for advancing aerosol medicine
Northeastern University bioengineering professor Jessica Oakes was a graduate student working with a professor studying particle behavior in lungs affected by emphysema and other conditions when she became interested in respiratory diseases.
She was personally familiar with pulmonary disease — her grandparents developed health problems after years of exposure to air pollutants at General Motors factories and heavy smoking.
She continued studying inhaled substances during her doctoral work.
Throughout her studies, Oakes says, she met great mentors who supported her along the way. She also tirelessly applied for grants and fellowships to fund her early research.
At Northeastern, Oakes’ lab studies how inhaled particles travel in the lungs, how to improve drug delivery as well as the effects of toxic substances such as e-cigarette smoke, fire smoke and environmental pollutants on lung health. Her team uses both experimental and computational models in their research.
“I’m thankful to Northeastern for giving me a shot and giving me startup funds and the support,” says Oakes, an associate professor of bioengineering.
In recognition of her work, Oakes was recently honored with the 2025 Young Investigator Award from the International Society for Aerosol Medicine for her significant contributions to medical aerosol research.
“It was a great moment to be recognized,” she says.
Her expertise in biofluids, she says, along with her perseverance made a strong impression on the Northeastern hiring committee.
She also credits two senior colleagues — Abraham Joy, professor and chair of the bioengineering department, and Sandra Shefelbine, associate dean of space and special initiatives and professor of mechanical and industrial engineering and professor of bioengineering — for their mentorship.
Oakes is currently working on three major research projects.
The first, funded by the Gates Foundation, seeks to improve the delivery of surfactant, a substance that coats the inside of the lungs, in babies born prematurely.
The surfactant, a complex mixture of lipids and proteins, reduces surface tension, preventing the alveoli, or tiny air sacs in the lungs, from collapsing during exhalation and facilitating gas exchange.
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