Last week

These might be the best lab group pictures. Ever.

 
 

We had a busy week last week! Not only was it Kaleigh’s comprehensive exam, but it was also the last day for Matt, our senior technician / lab manager / neuron whisperer / McGyver because he is moving to Boston to greener pastures. We celebrated all of this with one of the most iconic Pittsburgh outings - a trip to Kennywood! We are going to miss Matt tremendously but we know he’ll land somewhere great in Boston! Here are some pictures from our day:

Last year’s summer lab outing was a river cruise. This year was Kennywood. What will next year bring?!?


Congrats to Kaleigh!

Kaleigh passed her comprehensive exam this past week and is now officially a PhD candidate! Congratulations Kaleigh for this huge milestone!

Kaleigh celebrating her HHH win

She’s multi-talented: she also won a game of life-sized Hungry Hungry Hippo!

Introduction Part 3

Finally, I introduce Jackson McGaughey, who is taking on the role of Research Technician. He will be working with Ryan to learn the ins-and-outs of our animal experiments.

Jackson received his Bachelor’s degree in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2022.  During this time, he conducted research under the mentorship of Dr. Paul Monga in the Department of Cell and Molecular Pathology and focused on the understating the Wnt signaling pathway during liver regeneration.  His research interest lies in elucidating molecular pathogenesis and emerging and re-emerging infectious disease.

Outside of research, he is an avid scuba diver and climber.  He has a Great Dane named Onyx.  He also loves to travel and explore. 

Introduction Part 2

Zachary Frey is an undergraduate student from the Neuroscience department. This is the first time our lab has taken on an undergrad!

Zach is entering his senior year at the University of Pittsburgh where he is majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Chemistry. He is originally from the small town of Selinsgrove in central Pennsylvania, where his dog Shamrock still lives. Outside of class, Zach spends his time listening to music, watching movies, cooking, and exploring the city. He is also active at the University of Pittsburgh’s radio station, WPTS, and runs his own radio show once a week during the school year.

Zach will be working with Kaleigh on neuron-related projects. We are excited to have him on board!

Learning cell culture technique with Ryan

Learning the cryotome

Introduction Part 1

We brought on some new folks in the past month. I’ll be introducing them individually here.

First up is our new post-doctoral fellow, Dr. Rachael Rush!

Rachael is a Pittsburgh native and attended Pitt majoring in microbiology. While at Pitt she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Graham Hatfull studying mycobacteriophages. She graduated in 2017 with her bachelors and started her PhD program at WVU that year. Rachael earned her doctorate in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis in 2022 and joined our lab as a post-doc. She has two cats, Sam and Sadie, who she loves to spoil. In her free time, Rachael enjoys checking out new restaurants, coffee and tea shops, and stores around Pittsburgh with her fiancé. She also loves to cook, read, and attempt to bake various treats. 

During the end of her PhD, she spent a week with us last fall as part of an “experiential learning” opportunity. She was able to test drive our lab to see if it would be a good fit for her future aspirations. We’re happy to have her on board! She’ll start out working on aspects of our Lrp1 project.

Negative Strand Virus (NSV) Conference 2022

The Negative Strand Virus conference was held in Braga, Portugal last week. Cindy, Maddy, and I made the trip (first in-person conference since before COVID!).

We met colleagues and collaborators whom we’ve never seen in person before. It was a fabulous week of virology & socializing!

See more photos from our trip to Portugal in the gallery!

Maddy won the poster prize for the “Damaging and Spreading” section!

Data was discussed!

Cooling off with sangria with the WashU Crew!

Posters were presented!

Fun was also had, despite the travel issues!

Rotations for 2022-23 year

If you are an incoming PhD student in either the IDM or PMI graduate programs and are interested in rotating in our lab, please reach out to me. Rotation slots tend to be on a first-come first-serve basis, and if I have more interested students than available slots, I will interview and select from there.

Summer conferences

Here’s an update on where you can find us this summer!

Kaleigh Connors (PhD student) will present a poster entitled: In vitro and ex vivo brain culture models uncover the direct effect of Rift Valley fever virus infection on primary neurons" at the American Society for Virology's 41st Annual Meeting, which is being held at the Monona Terrace in Madison, WI, July 16 – 20, 2022.

A few Hartman Lab members will be attending the 2022 Negative Strand Virus Conference in Braga, Portugal in June:

Madeline Schwarz (PhD student) will present her work entitled: “Development of a novel rodent model of Rift Valley fever ocular disease.”

Cynthia McMillen, PhD will present her recent work: “Therapeutic and Prophylactic Delivery of Potent Neutralizing Human Monoclonal Antibodies Prevents Vertical Transmission of RVFV in Sprague Dawley Rats” 

Amy Hartman, PhD will also present: “Lrp1 mediates cellular infection by diverse bunyaviruses.”

Hope to see everyone in person again soon!