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. 

NIH funds the Pompano lab!

Huge news for our research:  The NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has awarded our lab more than $1.4 million over five years to fund our efforts to create a new experimental model of the immune system.  By combining live lymph node tissue and microfluidic technology, we will be able to look closely that the events that happen locally inside the tissue.  This work will inform the development of new anti-inflammatory immunotherapies. 

Many thanks to the NIH NIAID for their support, and to Prof. John Lukens for collaborating with us on this project. 

Prof. Pompano speaks at Hartwell Annual Meeting

Dr. Pompano presented our lab's latest work at the annual meeting of The Hartwell Foundation, held at Duke University.  It was great to meet with approximately forty researchers all conducting creative, cutting-edge research to help the children of the United States.  Many thanks to The Hartwell Foundation for such a stimulating meeting.

Dr. Ashley Ross Selected for AAI Postdoctoral Fellowship

Dr. Ashley Ross has been selected for postdoctoral funding through a 2016 AAI Careers in Immunology Fellowship to Prof. Pompano!  This program from the American Association of Immunologists supports the career development of AAI members and trainees.  This award focus on a new project at the interface of microfluidics and neuroimmunology. Congrats Ashley!

Congrats Jenn!!

Jenn has been awarded a prestigious biotechnology training grant.  This grant's purpose is to transform strong graduate students into exceptional scientists through both scientific and career training, including the opportunity for a summer internship at a biotechnology company!  The funding for this grant comes through the NIGMS at the NIH.

Congratulations to Drake Dixon!

One of our very talented undergraduate students, Drake Dixon, has been awarded both a nanoSTAR fellowship and a College Science Scholar's award for his work this summer.  His project is entitled "Utilizing boron nanoparticles to develop a novel immunometabolism assay."  This work will be in collaboration with the Fraser lab here at UVA.

Pompano Lab awarded SACP Starter Grant

The Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh has chosen the Pompano lab as the 2016 recipient of their Starter Grant Award.  This grant is given to new professors in the field of analytical chemistry to encourage high-quality and innovative research. Only two awards are given nationally, one in the field of analytical chemistry and one in the field of spectroscopy.

We are honored to receive this award. More information about the society can be found by clicking through the above image. More information about the award can be found here.

Congrats Andrew and Maura

Congratulations to Andrew and Maura for passing their second year candidacy exams!!  These exams include written and verbal portions and are required for all PhD candidates.

Double Hoo Award

Congrats to Ben and Maura for being awarded a Double Hoo Research Grant through the Center for Undergraduate Excellence at the University of Virginia!  This prestigious award will allow them to continue working together on a project entitled: Visualization and Quantification of Immune Responses in Lymph Nodes.  They look forward to being able to work together this coming summer to complete this project.  More information can be found in the related UVA Today news article.

Prof. Pompano named a Hartwell Investigator

On April 1, Professor Pompano was honored to be named a 2015 Hartwell Investigator.  The Hartwell Foundation funds early-stage, innovative, and cutting-edge biomedical research to benefit children. The 2015 Hartwell Individual Biomedical Research Award will fund our work using microfluidics to guide the design of therapeutic vaccines for children with neuroblastoma.

More information about the Foundation and the award can be found by clicking through the image above.  

Read more about the award in the Chemistry department news and in the UVA Today.   Congratulations also to Prof. John Lukens of the BIG Center, who also received a Hartwell Award this year!