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 …
Ponik Lab News & Events
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)
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 …
Ponik Lab publishes review article on biomechanical activation of tumor associated macrophages
May 2020. In this review article we highlight the importance of investigating how the extracellular matrix directly and indirectly impacts tumor-associated macrophage activation. Recent advances in investigating macrophages in the tumor microenvironment and future directions …
The Ponik and Weaver labs publish new study on a live cell reporter of exosomes
April 2020. The finding of this study, published in Nature Communications, demonstrates through dynamic monitoring of EVs that exosomes are secreted at the front of migrating cells and left behind in exosome trails. We also …
Ponik Lab publishes new study on MMP-mediated crosstalk from stromal fibroblasts to promote breast cancer cell 3D migration
May 2020. In this study, published in Cancers – Special Issue on Tumor Stroma, a microfluidic model was used to study the effect of 3D heterogeneous ECMs (i.e., fibroblasts and different ECM protein compositions) on …