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 …
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 …
Collaboration with Dr. Schuler highlighted in Extracellular Matrix News
Dynamic interactions between the extracellular matrix and estrogen activity in progression of ER+ breast cancer. Oncogene. 2019 Aug 12