Public talk at UVA Forward

“A Glimpse into the Chemistry of the Immune System”

It was a special honor to be invited to speak to UVA staff members at their annual professional development event in June 2018. Although the event was meant to inspire the attendees, in the end it was just as inspiring for me! Sharing our lab’s vision, goals, and progress with people from mostly non-science backgrounds, many of whom provide the daily support that make it possible, was a special privilege and a touching reminder of why I am here.

Prof. Pompano named Lab on a Chip Emerging Investigator

Professor Pompano was named an Emerging Investigator by Lab on a Chip, following publication of our article on a movable port for stimulation of slices of live tissue.  What an honor!  You can read the full interview here.

Lab on a Chip paper published

Congratulations to Meg Catterton for putting out a great paper. You can read about her cool SlipChip for movable stimulation of lymph nodes and other tissue slices online today in Lab on a Chip.  This technology enables the user to move a microfluidic port to a desired location under a slice of tissue or 3D culture of cells, and deliver solution just to that spot.  We hope it will be useful for many other researchers who are interested in local events in live tissue.  Contact us if you are interested in testing it out!

User-defined local stimulation of live tissue through a movable microfluidic port

Welcome Gianna Haskin from Xavier University

We are thrilled to have Gianna Haskin, a rising second year student at Xavier University of Louisiana, join us for summer research this summer.  She is participating in the First Year Research Experience (FYRE) program, a nationwide program that sponsors first-time research experiences after the first year of college.  Gianna is working on pioneering methods for long term culture of lymph node slices!  She has done a great job in her first month, and we look forward to seeing what she achieves by the end of the summer.

Good Luck to Drake, Ben and Kristen!

As UVA begins to prepare for Final Exercises we want to thank all our graduating undergrads for all their hard work over the past years.  Many of them have been part of the lab since the first summer and they have helped shape the lab and develop many of our novel procedures.  They have done excellent work and we wish them the best of luck as they move forward in their scientific careers. 

We will miss you all but look forward to seeing your future accomplishments.

The Pompano Lab at AAI

Maura Belanger presented at the annual AAI conference held this year in Austin, Texas  She presented her work on delivery of beads to lymph node slices.  While there she saw some great talks and returned with a lot of new ideas for the lab.  We look forward to the new insights and to following some of the scientific advancements coming out of this conference!

Alyssa M. and Rebecca Y. win summer research fellowships

Congratulations to 1st-year student Alyssa Montalbine and 2nd-year student Rebecca Yoo, who each won competitive undergraduate research fellowships to fund their work in the lab this summer!  Alyssa received a NanoSTAR fellowship for her work on a scaffold for an artificial lymph node, and Rebecca received a Department of Chemistry fellowship and a College Science Scholars award for her work testing the effects of fluid flow on lymph node tissue.  We are excited to have them here with us this summer!

Nanomedicine symposium at Virginia Tech

Meg, Andrew, and Prof. Pompano attended the "2nd inaugural" NanoSymposium on Engineered Health, held this year at VA Tech in Roanoke, VA.  Meg and Andrew presented posters and Prof. Pompano gave a talk, and we heard lots of great science from researchers across the state.

Image credit:  Dr. Jennifer Munson

Meg takes top honor at 3rd year poster session

We are so proud of Meg Catterton for receiving the award of "Best Poster" at the annual 3rd-year PhD student Poster Session in the Department of Chemistry.  Meg presented her work on a device for local stimulation of tissue slices with a movable microfluidic port.  Following the poster session, she had the opportunity to present her work to the entire department in a celebratory seminar.  Great job Meg!  Look for her paper coming soon.

Congratulations also to the 2nd and 3rd place winners of a great poster session!

• 1st Place: Meg Catterton (Pompano lab)
• 2nd Place: Qian Liang (Cafiso lab)
• 3rd Place: Nicole Swope (Columbus lab) & Robert D'Ippolito (Hunt Lab)

Image credits:  Dr. Jim Demas

Pompano and Rutkowski awarded collaborative research grant

We are honored that the Pompano lab and Rutkowski lab were awarded a 2018 Collaborative Research Project Award in the amount of $75,000 from the Carter Immunology Center.  According to the program announcement,

The goal of this award is to increase the level of collaborative activity among members of the Carter Immunology Center; bring together individuals and laboratories with complementary skills and perspectives; encourage the development of multi-investigator awards, which generally have higher budgets and more comprehensive scope of research activities; and to drive high quality science and encourage its translation into treatments for disease. 

We are excited to begin work on a new model of tumor immunity for this project!  This award was generously funded by the Carter Foundation.