August 2022 – Ponik lab graduate student, Metti Gari, successfully completed her preliminary exam, “PEG-FUD as an anti-cancer therapy for breast cancer”. She is now a dissertation in the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Program at …
The Ponik and Kwon labs collaborate to improve the tumor targeting potential of an anti-fibrotic inhibitor of fibronectin assembly.
August 2022. In this study we demonstrated improved tumor targeting and biodistribution of 20-kDa PEG conjugated FUD peptide (PEG-FUD) in the 4T1 murine breast cancer model using multimodal imaging techniques. We demonstrate that PEGylation improves …
Ponik Lab publishes new methods protocol to use endogenous fluorescence to segment intravital images.
May 2022. This novel method demonstrates an intravital imaging workflow pairing collagen second harmonic generation imaging, endogenous fluorescence from the metabolic co-factor NAD(P)H, and fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) as a means to non-invasively compartmentalize the …
Congrats to Metti Gari! Winner of the 2022 ASMB image contest
“Every Rose has a Fiber” The extracellular matrix in a mouse model of triple negative breast cancer. (Tenascin-C = red, Fibronectin = green, DAPI = blue)
Congratulations to Shelby Fertal on the publication of her review article on the stromal impacts on new therapies for TNBC patients!
In this collaborative review with Drs. Kari Wisinski and Johanna Poterala, we summarize the recent outcomes from clinical trials with new agents for metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, specifically focusing on immunotherapies targeting the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway …
Ponik lab wins 1st place for architectural challenge in the 4th floor CRB gingerbread decorating contest!
Congratulations to Maria Virumbrales-Munoz and team on their recent e-Biomedicine publication.
October 2021. In this study, Head and neck patient-derived fibroblasts were isolated and incorporated into a lymphatic organotypic model. This model provided a platform to identify pathways leading to lymphangiogenesis in each patient, to test …
Ponik Lab publishes study on directional cues in the tumor microenvironment
May 2021. In this study we developed innovative methodology to discover that collagen alignment results in a 35-fold difference in cell-scale stiffness and alters contractile force transmission through the fiber network. Furthermore, we identified bias …
Ponik Lab Welcomes New Students!
December 2020: The Ponik lab welcomees two new graduate students. Metti Gari is a student in the Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Program and Shelby Fertal is in the Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Program. We are …
Congratulations to Erica Hoffmann!
August 2020 – Ponik lab grad student, Erica Hoffmann, successfully completed her prelim exam, “The Regulation of Tumor-Associated Macrophages by a Collagen-Dense Breast Tumor Microenvironment”. She is now a dissertator in the Molecular and Cellular …