Carl Franzblau, PhD

Primary Institution:
Boston University School of Medicine
Boston MA
Department:
Biochemistry
Position(s):
Professor, Biochemistry; Founder of CityLab

Carl Franzblau has been a faculty member of Boston University School of Medicine for more than 50 years. His research involved the study of extracellular matrix proteins, collagen and elastin and the role they play in the pathogenesis pf disease. He has been the Principal Investigator of several large program projects involving the response of the lung to injury. He studied animal and cell culture models as well as conducting studies in the clinic. As the PI, it was his responsibility to oversee all aspects of these projects.

In the early 1990s, when Carl was the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Sciences, he had an epiphany that our nation needed better-trained students to enter our graduate programs and become the next generation of biomedical scientists. In that spirit, he created CityLab with SEPA support in 1991 to give middle and high school students and teachers an opportunity to experience real scientific investigations. He has served as the PI on all of CityLab’s SEPA awards since that time and has dedicated himself to STEM education for the latter half of his career.

Carl conceived of the original mobile science laboratory concept in the mid-1990s and the MobileLab “hit the road” in 1998. This is just one example of the pedagogical innovations that have emanated from CityLab and had a transformative impact on STEM education. The MobileLab has served hundreds of thousands of students and teachers since its debut and now mobile labs for STEM education are found all over the U.S. and abroad (India, Hong Kong, Israel, Qatar, Jordan, Australia, among others).

Associated SEPA Project(s)