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The 22nd Annual Dept. of Immunology Scientific Retreat

SEPTEMBER 26-27,2024 

CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR'S WINNERS -

  • GSR 1-3 Poster - Katelyn Wolfgang (1st), Trirupa Chakraborty (2nd), Ben Cameron (3rd)
  • GSR 4+ Poster - Aaron Yang (1st), Kellie Spahr (2nd), Sonia Kruzelnicki (3rd)
  • Postdoc Poster - Nick Pease (1st), Alexandra Glather (2nd), Drew Wilfahrt (3rd)
  • Staff/Other Poster - Kristin Morder (1st), Yue Zhang (2nd), Angelique Pham (3rd)
  • Elevator Pitch Session - Sonia Kruzelnicki 
  • People's Choice Award - Bailey Chalmers
  • Scavenger Hunt - The Oglebabies
  • Oral Presentations Selected from Abstracts - Christine Tin, Drew Wilfahrt and Hanzi Xiao

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dan R. Littman, MD, PhD - Professor, Department of Cell Biology; and HHMI Investigator - NYU School of Medicine; Mechanisms of Immune Homeostasis and Inflammation in the Gut Mucosa

INTERNAL SPEAKERS

Anthony R. Cillo, PhD - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Immunology, Center for Systems Immunology, and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center; Dissecting Antitumor Immunity One Cell at a Time

Sarah Gaffen, PhD - Gerald P. Rodnan Professor, Dept. of Medicine, Div. of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology; All Things Great and (IL-) Seventeen

Reinhard Hinterleitner, PhD - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Immunology; Mucosal Immune Responses Shaped by a Commensal Protist

Youjin Lee, PhD - Assistant Professor, Dept. of Immunology; A Targeted In Vivo CRISPR Screen Identifies Regulators of Treg Migration into the CNS

Catherine M. Phelps - Graduate Student, Meisel Lab - 2023 Grad Student (4+). Poster Winner; Exercise-Induced Microbial Metabolite Enhances CD8 T cell Antitumor Immunity Thereby Promoting Immunotherapy Efficacy

Dayana Rivadeneira, PhD - Research Assistant Professor, Dept. of Immunology; Protecting Telomeres from Oxidative Damage in Therapeutic T cells Protects Against Tumor-Induced Immune Dysfunction

Christine Tin - Graduate Student (4+), Hand Lab. Oral Presentation from Selected Abstracts; Single Cell Analysis of Infant Microbiome Development

Dario A. A. Vignali, PhD - Chair and Distinguished Professor, Dept. of Immunology; State of the Departmental Address

Drew Wilfahrt, PhD - Postdoctoral Associate, Delgoffe Lab. Oral Presentation from Selected Abstracts; Tumor-Derived Nutrient Stress Induces Lasting Effects on CD8+ T cell Function and Epigenetic Remodeling

Hanzi Xiao - Graduate Student (4+), Das Lab. Oral Presentation from Selected Abstracts; Interpretable Machine Learning Uncovers Spatial-Microenvironment-Specific Drivers of Pathogenesis in Myocardial Infarction

 

ELEVATOR PITCH SESSION PRESENTERS:

Qiang Chen, PhD - Postdoc, Vignali Lab; Development of an In Vivo Model for CRISPR Screening to Uncover Novel Targets of Tumor-Infiltrating Treg cells

Jessica Jana - Graduate Student (1-3), Overacre Lab; Going the Distance: Helicobacter Hepaticus Colonization Drives Immunotherapy Response in Melanoma

Sonia Kruszelnicki - Graduate Student (4+), Gottschalk Lab; Microbiota-Dependent Lung Stimuli Shape Alveolar Macrophage Transcription Factor Networks

Amanda Lee - Graduate Student (1-3), Meisel Lab; Defining the Role of AhR and Nrf2 in Commensal Immunomodulation of Antitumor Immunity

Danica Lee - Graduate Student (1-3), Schwartz Lab; Genotype-to-Phenotype Analysis of TNFAIP3 Variants Associated with Haploinsufficiency of A20 (HA20) Reveals Higher Prevalence than Expected

Alisa Omelchenko - Graduate Student (1-3), Das Lab; Network-based Integration of Epigenetic and Transcriptomic Landscapes Unveils Molecular Programs Underlying Human T Follicular Helper Cell Differentiation

Avani Parikh - Graduate Student (4+), Lohmueller Lab; Programming Universal Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells Using Small Molecule Adaptors

Mary Melissa Roland, PhD - Postdoc, Joglekar Lab; Identifying Antigenic Drivers of Tertiary Lymphoid Structure Formation in Solid Cancers

Ellen Scott - Graduate Student (4+), Vignali Lab; Ebi3 Finding to IFN-gamma and IL-10 Limits Their Function

Dan Xue, PhD - Postdoc, Lafyatis Lab; Unveiling TGFB3 Upregulation in Systemic Sclerosis: Insights from Chromatin Accessibility and Transcription Factor Analysis

 

*** NEW THIS YEAR - ELEVATOR PITCH SESSION ***

"You happen to meet the NIH director in the elevator. She asks you about your project, but she's also checking her email on her phone because she's the NIH DIRECTOR! What do you tell her about your project? You need to be creative so that you get her full undivided attention."

  • 10  3-minute oral presentations will be selected for this session. Simply submit your abstract to be considered for a (very) short elevator pitch talk at the retreat. Max 1 slide and max 3 minutes per talk. Animations OK - as long as you stick to the time limit. Extra credits for creativity!  If you'd like to be considered, simply submit your abstract following the guidelines below and also indicate so in your registration. A small prize will be awarded to the winner of the session. This session is open to all GSRs and Postdocs.

 

ORAL PRESENTATIONS FROM SELECTED ABSTRACTS

Abstract Submission and Poster Sessions -

ABSTRACT GUIDELINES:

Timeline – Abstracts are due by Aug. 30, 2024. Abstracts are required if you plan to participate in the poster session and/or be considered for an oral presentation or the Elevator Pitch Session. Please indicate your plans on the registration form and email your abstract submission form to Jodi Russo at JOR190@pitt.edu by the due date. 

Eligibility – Graduate students, postdocs, clinical fellows (or equivalent), and technicians.

Scoring – The Retreat Organizing Committee will select three abstracts for oral presentation at the 2024 Retreat. Selections will be made from the Graduate Student (YR4+), Postdoc/Research Associate, MID Scholar, and Lab Staff submissions who have indicated that they would like to be considered.  They will give 10 minute presentations plus 5 minutes for Q&A. 

Format – Abstracts should not exceed 250 words in length. This does not include the title, authors or funding source (optional).  Abstract should be a one-page pdf document less than 4 MB in size. The following information must be included at the top of the document:

  • NAME OF PRESENTING AUTHOR
  • EMAIL
  • LAB AFFILIATION
  • CLASSIFICATION: Graduate Student (YR1-3), Graduate Student (YR4+), Postdoc/Research Associate, Faculty, Lab Staff, Other (please identify), MID Scholar
  • CONSIDER FOR AN ORAL PRESENTATION: YES or NO
  • CONSIDER FOR ELEVATOR PITCH SESSION: YES or NO
  • PRESENT POSTER AT POSTER SESSION: YES or NO

NOTE: ABSTRACTS SELECTED FOR ORAL PRESENTATIONS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED FOR POSTER AWARDS.

POSTER GUIDELINES: 

As indicated above, abstracts must be submitted by Aug. 30 if you plan to participate in the poster sessions. Please indicate your plan to do so when registering.

Posters will be judged based on the quality of the Subject Matter, Presentation and Poster Display. First place posters in the Graduate Student (YR4+) and Postdoc/Research Associate categories will be invited to present at the 2024 Retreat.

Poster sessions will be held on Thursday and Friday mornings, September 26 and 27. Posters will be assigned numbers, with the odd numbers presenting on Thursday morning and the even numbers presenting in the Friday morning session. Presenters will be required to put their posters up the morning of their session and to remove their posters at the end of the day.

NOTE:  THE DIMENSIONS OF POSTERS CANNOT EXCEED 3’ x 3’. Pins and numbers will be provided.

 

SPONSORS

  • Platinum/Keynote Session Sponsor 
    • Bio-Techne
    • Thermo Fisher Scientific
  • Gold/Poster Session Sponsor
    • Beckman Coulter
    • Integra Biosciences Corporation
    • The Jackson laboratory
    • Leinco Technologies
    • Miltenyi Biotec Inc.
    • Sony Biotechnology
  • Silver Sponsor
    • BD Biosciences
    • BioLegend
    • Bio X Cell
    • Curio Biosciences
    • Cytek Biosciences
    • Meso Scale Discovery
    • MilliporeSigma
    • Pacific Biosciences
    • VWR, part of Avatar

RETREAT ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

  • Anthony Cillo, PhD
  • Roberta Erickson
  • Alok Joglekar, PhD
  • Abigail Overacre, PhD
  • Daniella Schwartz, MD
  • Rylee Cisney - Graduate Student, St. Leger Lab
  • Andrew Frisch - Graduate Student, Delgoffe Lab
  • Jessica jana - Graduate Student, Overacre Lab
  • Adam Kieran - Graduate Student, Vignali Lab
  • Yannis Rigas - Graduate Student, St. Leger Lab
  • Drew Wilfahrt - Postdoctoral Associate, Delgoffe Lab
  • Katelyn Wolfgang - Graduate Student, Overacre Lab