Laboratory Happenings
It Starts Anew
26 August 2009
So...here we are again. The end of summer is nearly
upon us; I inadvertently drove into undergrad
move-in preparations yesterday and realized that
fall and winter are on the way. Undergrad move-in
is a good time to shake the cobwebs off the website
and give some updates on our lab. Gosh, where to
begin...
First, if you are a graduate student interested in a rotation, please read by graduate student training philosophy and review my research program.
Last month we said goodbye to Claire O’Leary who left our lab to start grad school at the University of Pennsylvania. Ann Detmer left to become an Assistant Track coach at Cal (I imagine it is easy to be a track coach when your runners are motivated by a hungry Golden Bear). Kevin Campbell, a four year undergraduate in the lab, also left to start medical school at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
The new faces from earlier this summer are already well integrated in the lab. All four undergraduates supported by ARRA money presented lab meetings on their projects and I have high hopes that most of this work will eventually be published. Claire’s work has already been submitted for publication.
Speaking of publications....we are still anxiously awaiting publication of a high profile manuscript in a journal-that-shall-remain-nameless-because-of-a-manuscript-embargo. In papers that I can talk about, Julie Karl published an MHC techniques paper in the creatively named journal ‘Methods’. Ben Bimber’s paper in collaboration with Ha Youn Lee from the University of Rochester was published in ‘Retrovirology’. In addition to the aforementioned papers in press and under submission, I expect Shelby and Justin to each submit a paper within the next few weeks, with more papers following soon thereafter from Ben Burwitz and Melisa Budde.
We’ve had a fairly relaxing summer in terms of presentations. Dawn Dudley presented her work in South Africa at the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention and then traveled to Uganda to meet with potential collaborators in Uganda. But I stayed home this summer - I think this is my first summer without business travel in more than five years! Perhaps this reclusive behavior isn’t by choice? After all, I did give a Neil Diamond themed presentation at Harvard University in April. The acknowledgements video (with help from our friends in the AIDS Vaccine Research Lab) pretty much says it all.
Let’s see...what else...we are very happy to report that an NIH R01 grant that I co-authored with Dr. Tom Friedrich scored very well and may be funded. If the grant is funded, we will explore the importance of broadly directed cellular immune responses in an animal model of HIV/AIDS. In addition, we received a favorable score for a renewal of an NIH R24 application to improve our understanding of macaque genetics. I also contributed to several ARRA applications that received promising evaluations. I think that now I am genuinely done writing grants for a while*.
*(at least 2 weeks)
Lastly, thanks to the miracle of Google Analytics, I still track who comes to visit my lab’s web page. A big thanks to Jen Lhost’s secret admirer, whose google search represents a whopping 12.28% of all traffic to the site in the last month. Also, like Styx, we’re (relatively) huge in Asia.
First, if you are a graduate student interested in a rotation, please read by graduate student training philosophy and review my research program.
Last month we said goodbye to Claire O’Leary who left our lab to start grad school at the University of Pennsylvania. Ann Detmer left to become an Assistant Track coach at Cal (I imagine it is easy to be a track coach when your runners are motivated by a hungry Golden Bear). Kevin Campbell, a four year undergraduate in the lab, also left to start medical school at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
The new faces from earlier this summer are already well integrated in the lab. All four undergraduates supported by ARRA money presented lab meetings on their projects and I have high hopes that most of this work will eventually be published. Claire’s work has already been submitted for publication.
Speaking of publications....we are still anxiously awaiting publication of a high profile manuscript in a journal-that-shall-remain-nameless-because-of-a-manuscript-embargo. In papers that I can talk about, Julie Karl published an MHC techniques paper in the creatively named journal ‘Methods’. Ben Bimber’s paper in collaboration with Ha Youn Lee from the University of Rochester was published in ‘Retrovirology’. In addition to the aforementioned papers in press and under submission, I expect Shelby and Justin to each submit a paper within the next few weeks, with more papers following soon thereafter from Ben Burwitz and Melisa Budde.
We’ve had a fairly relaxing summer in terms of presentations. Dawn Dudley presented her work in South Africa at the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention and then traveled to Uganda to meet with potential collaborators in Uganda. But I stayed home this summer - I think this is my first summer without business travel in more than five years! Perhaps this reclusive behavior isn’t by choice? After all, I did give a Neil Diamond themed presentation at Harvard University in April. The acknowledgements video (with help from our friends in the AIDS Vaccine Research Lab) pretty much says it all.
Let’s see...what else...we are very happy to report that an NIH R01 grant that I co-authored with Dr. Tom Friedrich scored very well and may be funded. If the grant is funded, we will explore the importance of broadly directed cellular immune responses in an animal model of HIV/AIDS. In addition, we received a favorable score for a renewal of an NIH R24 application to improve our understanding of macaque genetics. I also contributed to several ARRA applications that received promising evaluations. I think that now I am genuinely done writing grants for a while*.
*(at least 2 weeks)
Lastly, thanks to the miracle of Google Analytics, I still track who comes to visit my lab’s web page. A big thanks to Jen Lhost’s secret admirer, whose google search represents a whopping 12.28% of all traffic to the site in the last month. Also, like Styx, we’re (relatively) huge in Asia.
Craziness
03 June 2009
The last few months have been incredibly busy. In
addition to the challenges inherent in tracking my
9 month old son, the lab has experienced a surge of
productivity that has kept everyone on their toes.
Two manuscripts describing our forays into next-gen DNA sequencing have been accepted for publication in really good journals. Justin Greene is preparing another manuscript for submission, hopefully in the next few weeks. And Julie Karl just published a review article in the journal Methods.
It has also been a busy time for grants. We submitted a renewal of our R24 grant that characterizes MHC genetics in different populations of macaques. We also submitted two grants to the Gates Foundation, one in collaboration with our friend Rodney Phillips, to study HIV evolution by deep sequencing. NIH has awarded us a supplement to support the salaries of five summer undergraduate students and we are awaiting word on several other supplements. Until a week ago, I felt like the grant madness would never cease!
Our nascent international HIV research program is starting to gain traction. We are working with our friends in Sao Paulo to sequence HIV from their patients. We are also working with Dr. Frank Graziano here at the University of Wisconsin to investigate HIV sequence diversity in Ugandan and Wisconsin HIV+ patients. Dawn Dudley will be representing the lab at the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa in July. She will also be visiting prospective collaborators in Uganda during her time in Africa.
Lastly, it is the time of year when familiar faces leave us and new ones join the team. We will be saying goodbye to Kevin Campbell (med school), Ann Detmer (grad school), and Claire O’Leary in the coming weeks...but we will be saying ‘hi!’ to Ericka Becker (who will be replacing Ann). Hannah Creager and Benji Sudolcan are joining our undergraduate ranks.
Two manuscripts describing our forays into next-gen DNA sequencing have been accepted for publication in really good journals. Justin Greene is preparing another manuscript for submission, hopefully in the next few weeks. And Julie Karl just published a review article in the journal Methods.
It has also been a busy time for grants. We submitted a renewal of our R24 grant that characterizes MHC genetics in different populations of macaques. We also submitted two grants to the Gates Foundation, one in collaboration with our friend Rodney Phillips, to study HIV evolution by deep sequencing. NIH has awarded us a supplement to support the salaries of five summer undergraduate students and we are awaiting word on several other supplements. Until a week ago, I felt like the grant madness would never cease!
Our nascent international HIV research program is starting to gain traction. We are working with our friends in Sao Paulo to sequence HIV from their patients. We are also working with Dr. Frank Graziano here at the University of Wisconsin to investigate HIV sequence diversity in Ugandan and Wisconsin HIV+ patients. Dawn Dudley will be representing the lab at the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment, and Prevention in Cape Town, South Africa in July. She will also be visiting prospective collaborators in Uganda during her time in Africa.
Lastly, it is the time of year when familiar faces leave us and new ones join the team. We will be saying goodbye to Kevin Campbell (med school), Ann Detmer (grad school), and Claire O’Leary in the coming weeks...but we will be saying ‘hi!’ to Ericka Becker (who will be replacing Ann). Hannah Creager and Benji Sudolcan are joining our undergraduate ranks.
Springtime!
30 March 2009
In the two months since the last update of this
webpage, we’ve been very busy. I spent a week
in Washington DC in February, talking about our
latest research at NCI and NIAID. I got back to
Madison late on Friday night and then turned right
around and flew down to Brazil on Monday. Shelby
and I taught in a class for Brazilian scientists
and clinicians before taking a week of vacation on
the Sao Paulo coast. Dawn Dudley accompanied us to
Brazil and spent time in research labs expanding
the scope of our collaborations with our Brazilian
counterparts. We are now eagerly awaiting a return
visit from one of their senior scientists in May.
Other individuals in the lab have also been very busy. Ben Burwitz had a manuscript accepted for publication in the Journal of Virology. Congratulations, Ben!!
Also, I refreshed the pictures in the Lab Pictures page.
Other individuals in the lab have also been very busy. Ben Burwitz had a manuscript accepted for publication in the Journal of Virology. Congratulations, Ben!!
Also, I refreshed the pictures in the Lab Pictures page.
Phew!
22 January 2009
The last two months have been incredibly hectic in
the O’Connor Lab. As Shelby and I adjust to
having four-month old Eli in our lives, the lab
continues to forge ahead.
In December, we wrapped up our teaching for the fall semester. We were very happy with Pathology 210, our 100 student undergraduate course on HIV/AIDS, whose curriculum we completely revamped this year. The day after the final exam, Shelby and I left for the nonhuman primate models for AIDS conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The week passed in a blur. I gave a presentation at an NIH NIAID-sponsored satellite meeting on Systems Biology in NHP Research, co-chaired the conference session on Genetics, and watched as two years of planning culminated in a meeting that was well received by nearly all the 250 participants. We’re happy that the meeting we planned went so well, though we’re even more happy that we won’t have to plan another one for several more years!
After we returned from the meeting, we hosted two special visitors in the lab. Susan Gold, a pediatric nurse who does educational outreach in Kenya, met with the lab and toured our facilities. She visited with a colleague, Nicholas Makau, who manages the Nyumbani Villiage, a village for HIV/AIDS orphans. During our discussion, we learned that they have their own laboratory facilities. To see if our work can help their important work in any way, we are sending Simon and Jen from the lab to visit for several weeks in February. This month we were visited by Bob Bowers who told us about living with HIV since 1983. We are definitely lucky to have so many wonderful speakers interested in sharing their experiences with us.
We also had the good fortune of presenting our research to others. Ben Bimber and Julie Karl gave platform talks at the NHP AIDS meeting, while Shelby, Roger, Justin, Dawn, and Ben Burwitz presented posters on their research. Justin, Shelby, and I presented our work to the new UW-Madison Chancellor in late December. Shelby is giving a talk at the UW-Madison Global Health Symposium on our collaborative projects with researchers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Next month I am going to Frederick, MD and Bethesda, MD to share our most recent research with scientists from NCI and NIAID. Lastly, in early March Shelby and I will be going to Sao Paulo, Brazil to teach in an HIV/AIDS course and spend time with our collaborator Esper Kallas.
In addition, we have been busy with papers and grants. Tom Friedrich and I submitted a grant to study cellular immune responses against HIV. Shelby and Dawn are preparing grants for the Early Career Investigator Scholar Award. Ben Burwitz is preparing a manuscript on his research that will hopefully be submitted next week, while a manuscript describing our MHC typing of macaques using next-generation DNA sequencing will hopefully be submitted tomorrow.
So it has been a busy time around here, but it certainly isn’t dull!
In December, we wrapped up our teaching for the fall semester. We were very happy with Pathology 210, our 100 student undergraduate course on HIV/AIDS, whose curriculum we completely revamped this year. The day after the final exam, Shelby and I left for the nonhuman primate models for AIDS conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The week passed in a blur. I gave a presentation at an NIH NIAID-sponsored satellite meeting on Systems Biology in NHP Research, co-chaired the conference session on Genetics, and watched as two years of planning culminated in a meeting that was well received by nearly all the 250 participants. We’re happy that the meeting we planned went so well, though we’re even more happy that we won’t have to plan another one for several more years!
After we returned from the meeting, we hosted two special visitors in the lab. Susan Gold, a pediatric nurse who does educational outreach in Kenya, met with the lab and toured our facilities. She visited with a colleague, Nicholas Makau, who manages the Nyumbani Villiage, a village for HIV/AIDS orphans. During our discussion, we learned that they have their own laboratory facilities. To see if our work can help their important work in any way, we are sending Simon and Jen from the lab to visit for several weeks in February. This month we were visited by Bob Bowers who told us about living with HIV since 1983. We are definitely lucky to have so many wonderful speakers interested in sharing their experiences with us.
We also had the good fortune of presenting our research to others. Ben Bimber and Julie Karl gave platform talks at the NHP AIDS meeting, while Shelby, Roger, Justin, Dawn, and Ben Burwitz presented posters on their research. Justin, Shelby, and I presented our work to the new UW-Madison Chancellor in late December. Shelby is giving a talk at the UW-Madison Global Health Symposium on our collaborative projects with researchers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Next month I am going to Frederick, MD and Bethesda, MD to share our most recent research with scientists from NCI and NIAID. Lastly, in early March Shelby and I will be going to Sao Paulo, Brazil to teach in an HIV/AIDS course and spend time with our collaborator Esper Kallas.
In addition, we have been busy with papers and grants. Tom Friedrich and I submitted a grant to study cellular immune responses against HIV. Shelby and Dawn are preparing grants for the Early Career Investigator Scholar Award. Ben Burwitz is preparing a manuscript on his research that will hopefully be submitted next week, while a manuscript describing our MHC typing of macaques using next-generation DNA sequencing will hopefully be submitted tomorrow.
So it has been a busy time around here, but it certainly isn’t dull!
Thanksgiving
28 November 2008
Welcome to students who are considering applying to
graduate school at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Hopefully we will meet with some
of you later this spring.
The last weeks have been exciting. Shelby and I attended an NIH-sponsored workshop on nonhuman primates and AIDS vaccine design in Washington D.C. The next day, we flew to Miami and attended another workshop on the use of nonhuman primates and organ transplants. We were joined in Miami by Roger Wiseman, Julie Karl, and Ben Bimber from the lab. An exciting outcome from the meeting is that we will hopefully be working closely with dbMHC to create a publicly available resource for understanding nonhuman primate major histocompatibility complex genetics.
Since returning from Miami, we’ve been finalizing preparations for the 26th Annual Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS meeting that we are co-hosting with the Caribbean Primate Research Center. Going into the last work week before the conference starts, I am happy to report that our planning is complete! Our lab will be well represented at the meeting. Julie Karl and Ben Bimber will be giving platform talks, I will be chairing a session, and Roger Wiseman, Ben Burwitz, Justin Greene, Dawn Dudley, and Shelby O’Connor will present posters.
The last weeks have been exciting. Shelby and I attended an NIH-sponsored workshop on nonhuman primates and AIDS vaccine design in Washington D.C. The next day, we flew to Miami and attended another workshop on the use of nonhuman primates and organ transplants. We were joined in Miami by Roger Wiseman, Julie Karl, and Ben Bimber from the lab. An exciting outcome from the meeting is that we will hopefully be working closely with dbMHC to create a publicly available resource for understanding nonhuman primate major histocompatibility complex genetics.
Since returning from Miami, we’ve been finalizing preparations for the 26th Annual Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS meeting that we are co-hosting with the Caribbean Primate Research Center. Going into the last work week before the conference starts, I am happy to report that our planning is complete! Our lab will be well represented at the meeting. Julie Karl and Ben Bimber will be giving platform talks, I will be chairing a session, and Roger Wiseman, Ben Burwitz, Justin Greene, Dawn Dudley, and Shelby O’Connor will present posters.
Crutching
16 August 2008
The past two weeks have been interesting. Last
Tuesday I sprained my ankle badly playing
basketball. Today, nearly two weeks later, is the
first day that I can hobble around without an
aircast. For the first week after the injury, I was
on crutches. Unfortunately, the injury came two
days before a trip to New York (to visit IAVI) and
Washington D.C. (to visit NIAID). Navigating the
Northeast on cructhes isn’t very much fun.
But while I was gone, there was lots of activity in the lab. Ben Bimber’s manuscript on killer immunoglobulin receptors in macaques received a very favorable review. Chad Pendley departed the lab to start medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin, while Alex Blasky left to start a PhD program at the University of Colorado-Denver. Very soon, their replacements Ann Detmer and Jen Tuscher will arrive. Now we await the start of the academic year that will coincide with Shelby’s due date. Managing the responsibilities of lab with the responsibilities of parenthood promises to be interesting.
But while I was gone, there was lots of activity in the lab. Ben Bimber’s manuscript on killer immunoglobulin receptors in macaques received a very favorable review. Chad Pendley departed the lab to start medical school at the Medical College of Wisconsin, while Alex Blasky left to start a PhD program at the University of Colorado-Denver. Very soon, their replacements Ann Detmer and Jen Tuscher will arrive. Now we await the start of the academic year that will coincide with Shelby’s due date. Managing the responsibilities of lab with the responsibilities of parenthood promises to be interesting.
Busy as a Bee
24 July 2008
In the last few years, I’ve discovered that
fewer and fewer hours at work are mine - most of
the time I’m either coming from a meeting or
going to a meeting. And when I’m not in
meetings, I’m being asked about my
availability for yet more meetings. It sometimes
feels strange anything gets accomplished at all.
And while I need to attend meetings, I’m
trying to be a bit more saavy in scheduling. To
wit, notice the newest addition to my toolbar,
‘Dave’s Schedule.’ This handy
link takes my calendars and puts them into an HTML
viewable form (without disclosing what I’m
actually doing). Hopefully this will simplify
meeting planning, if only a little.
In other news, at night we now face the age old struggle - work on our soon-to-be-due grants or watch DVDs of ‘How I Met Your Mother’. The last two nights, Doogie has won.
In other news, at night we now face the age old struggle - work on our soon-to-be-due grants or watch DVDs of ‘How I Met Your Mother’. The last two nights, Doogie has won.
Eritrea!
17 July 2008
A few people have asked about the countries where
our visitors have come from. Here is a map showing
where their geographic distribution:
We’ve even had a visitor from Eritrea! Soon the sun will never set on the O’Connor lab web empire.
In the last two weeks we submitted a manuscript for consideration by the Journal of Immunology. Hopefully the reviewers will like it. Even if they don’t, the lead author, Ben Bimber, probably won’t care too much since he is getting married this weekend! Congratulations Ben!
Shelby is still very pregnant, though both of us are scurrying to submit grants for the September 7 NIH deadline.
We are also starting to prepare for this fall’s offering of the UW-Madison undergrad class Pathology 210: HIV: Sex, Science, and Society that I am coordinating along with Dr. Tom Friedrich.
Lastly, we are preparing for this year’s nonhuman primate models for AIDS meeting in December. I am co-chairing the meeting with help from staff at both UW-Madison and the Carribbean Primate Research Center. Early response is incredibly positive. We are a month away from the abstract deadline and already we are running short of hotel rooms for the nights immediately before and after the meeting.
We’ve even had a visitor from Eritrea! Soon the sun will never set on the O’Connor lab web empire.
In the last two weeks we submitted a manuscript for consideration by the Journal of Immunology. Hopefully the reviewers will like it. Even if they don’t, the lead author, Ben Bimber, probably won’t care too much since he is getting married this weekend! Congratulations Ben!
Shelby is still very pregnant, though both of us are scurrying to submit grants for the September 7 NIH deadline.
We are also starting to prepare for this fall’s offering of the UW-Madison undergrad class Pathology 210: HIV: Sex, Science, and Society that I am coordinating along with Dr. Tom Friedrich.
Lastly, we are preparing for this year’s nonhuman primate models for AIDS meeting in December. I am co-chairing the meeting with help from staff at both UW-Madison and the Carribbean Primate Research Center. Early response is incredibly positive. We are a month away from the abstract deadline and already we are running short of hotel rooms for the nights immediately before and after the meeting.
We're Huge in Asia!
06 July 2008
We now have more than a month of tracking data from
Google Analytics. It is
amazing to me how far-flung some of our
visitors are. Our little lab web site has been
visited by people from places that I
couldn’t point to on a map (Carlisle,
UK? Kuantan, Malaysia? Really?).
I’m writing this at the tail end of the long Independence Day weekend. Though I frittered my Sunday away watching the Wimbledon finals, the lab has been positively hopping the last few weeks. With Alex Blasky and Chad Pendley weeks from starting grad school and med school, and their replacements already busy at work, we have never seemed like such a large lab before. Hopefully we haven’t reached our carrying capacity yet!
Let’s see...other news:
• Alex Blasky had his paper on reference-strand mediated conformational analysis accepted for publication at Immunogenetics
• Ben Burwitz passed his graduate school Prelim A with aplomb
• Ben Bimber is preparing a paper for submission to the Journal of Immunology while preparing for his upcoming nuptuals
• Shelby O’Connor is now 30 weeks pregnant and looking the part
• We are busily writing grants for the upcoming NIH AIDS grant deadline and bracing ourselves for this fall’s Pathology 210 class
That’s all for now. Big thanks to those of you taking the time to read about our lab from afar.
I’m writing this at the tail end of the long Independence Day weekend. Though I frittered my Sunday away watching the Wimbledon finals, the lab has been positively hopping the last few weeks. With Alex Blasky and Chad Pendley weeks from starting grad school and med school, and their replacements already busy at work, we have never seemed like such a large lab before. Hopefully we haven’t reached our carrying capacity yet!
Let’s see...other news:
• Alex Blasky had his paper on reference-strand mediated conformational analysis accepted for publication at Immunogenetics
• Ben Burwitz passed his graduate school Prelim A with aplomb
• Ben Bimber is preparing a paper for submission to the Journal of Immunology while preparing for his upcoming nuptuals
• Shelby O’Connor is now 30 weeks pregnant and looking the part
• We are busily writing grants for the upcoming NIH AIDS grant deadline and bracing ourselves for this fall’s Pathology 210 class
That’s all for now. Big thanks to those of you taking the time to read about our lab from afar.
My Complex
04 June 2008
I’ve spent the last week researching an
NIH R21/R33 grant I hope to
submit in early September. Concentrated
researching means shutting off email, closing
the door to my office, and trying to stay
focused on identifying and reading papers.
Terrific software like Bookends makes the process
much easier than it used to be, yet it is
still tough sledding. Occasionally I look for
a diversion. Yesterday I found one - setting
up Google Analytics to analyze
traffic to this web site after learning of two
people who discovered that Shelby and I are
expecting from reading this lab web page.
That just can’t be right, so I decided to investigate it (you see, I’m a scientist. That’s what I do. I investigate things). I thought that stats would show that no one visits the site except for wayward students and people from the lab. It turns out that I might have been wrong - while we certainly aren’t ESPN.com, we’ve logged more traffic than I expected. Which puts me under pressure to make sure that I keep this page updated. And worry that I’m going to say something wrong. Or accidentally divulge that Chicken McNuggets based HIV vaccine I’ve been working on.
In more germane news, congratulations to Alex Blasky, whose research paper describing a new type of genetic testing recived very positive reviews and will hopefully be published later this year. Alex, Julie Karl, and Justin Greene described their recent research at the UW-Madison Immunology Symposium last week. We also just migrated our lab’s entire information management system from a series of Mac Minis held together by a load-bearing series of firewire cables to a fancy new XServe. I’m excited because I can leverage the new technology to harass the staff twice as much in half the time. Progress!
That just can’t be right, so I decided to investigate it (you see, I’m a scientist. That’s what I do. I investigate things). I thought that stats would show that no one visits the site except for wayward students and people from the lab. It turns out that I might have been wrong - while we certainly aren’t ESPN.com, we’ve logged more traffic than I expected. Which puts me under pressure to make sure that I keep this page updated. And worry that I’m going to say something wrong. Or accidentally divulge that Chicken McNuggets based HIV vaccine I’ve been working on.
In more germane news, congratulations to Alex Blasky, whose research paper describing a new type of genetic testing recived very positive reviews and will hopefully be published later this year. Alex, Julie Karl, and Justin Greene described their recent research at the UW-Madison Immunology Symposium last week. We also just migrated our lab’s entire information management system from a series of Mac Minis held together by a load-bearing series of firewire cables to a fancy new XServe. I’m excited because I can leverage the new technology to harass the staff twice as much in half the time. Progress!
It's Memorial Day!
26 May 2008
It's been an exciting month in the O'Connor lab. In
addition my mounting excitement over being a new
dad (and Shelby's, of course, of being a new mom!),
we have begun planning for a fall semester where we
will be on maternity/paternity. Except for the Path
210 class we teach. And except for the NHP AIDS
2008 meeting that we are co-chairing. And except
for all the other exceptions that we haven't
identified yet! But really, we will be MIA for most
of the fall (we hope) as we welcome our newest
family member to the world.
Other exciting news:
-Justin Greene's paper on adoptive transfers in nonhuman primates was accepted at PLsS ONE.
-Chad Pendley and Ericka Becker's paper on MHC genetics of Indonesian cynomolgus macaques was accepted at Immunogenetics.
-Ben Bimber and Justin Greene have passed their Prelim B, while Ben Burwitz is gearing up to take his Prelim A at the end of May
-Dawn Dudley submitted a grant application for UW-Madison ICTR Pilot Project Funding
-Joe Mankowski from Johns Hopkins visited us for two days in early May, right before the weather got nice
-Simon Lank and Ann Detmer will be joining the lab as Associate Research Specialists in our Genetics Unit after graduation in May
And the Pirate Monkeys, a soccer team comprised mainly of players from our lab and David Watkins's lab, have started the spring season on a 4-0 tear.
Other exciting news:
-Justin Greene's paper on adoptive transfers in nonhuman primates was accepted at PLsS ONE.
-Chad Pendley and Ericka Becker's paper on MHC genetics of Indonesian cynomolgus macaques was accepted at Immunogenetics.
-Ben Bimber and Justin Greene have passed their Prelim B, while Ben Burwitz is gearing up to take his Prelim A at the end of May
-Dawn Dudley submitted a grant application for UW-Madison ICTR Pilot Project Funding
-Joe Mankowski from Johns Hopkins visited us for two days in early May, right before the weather got nice
-Simon Lank and Ann Detmer will be joining the lab as Associate Research Specialists in our Genetics Unit after graduation in May
And the Pirate Monkeys, a soccer team comprised mainly of players from our lab and David Watkins's lab, have started the spring season on a 4-0 tear.
Where in the World is the O'Connor Lab?
22 February 2008
As Madison creeps closer to 100 inches of total
snowfall this winter, members of the laboratory
have been abandoning the city in the name of
science! Shelby and I just returned from Sao Paulo,
Brazil where we spent a week with our collaborator
Esper Kallas. During our time in Brazil,
we met with research staff and taught Brazilian scientists
and clinicians about HIV pathogenesis and
genetics. Now that we are back, Julie Karl and
Ben Bimber have left to spend a week working
with computer programmers at Connexio in Perth,
Australia. Alex Blasky is also out of the lab
right now as he vies for graduate school
admission.
Even with all the traveling, we have had a very good start to the year. We received NIH R01 funding for a project to study adoptive transfer of vaccine elicited immunity. The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center conducted an exciting site visit of its activities. And I recently received a UW-Madison Vilas Associate Award to support a study of HIV superinfection in collaboration with Dr. Kallas in Brazil. Now we can start to gear up for spring (if winter ever ends!).
Even with all the traveling, we have had a very good start to the year. We received NIH R01 funding for a project to study adoptive transfer of vaccine elicited immunity. The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center conducted an exciting site visit of its activities. And I recently received a UW-Madison Vilas Associate Award to support a study of HIV superinfection in collaboration with Dr. Kallas in Brazil. Now we can start to gear up for spring (if winter ever ends!).
Happy New Year!
02 January 2008
Happy New Year from your friends in the O'Connor
laboratory! Around this time of year we often
receive inquiries from prospective students
considering graduate study at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Our laboratory is affiliated
with the Cellular and Molecular
Pathology program, the Cellular and Molecular
Biology program, and, most recently, the
Microbiology program.
Additionally, we train students in the Molecular Biosciences Training
Grant, regardless of their graduate
program.
The last few months have been really exciting. Julie Karl's manuscript on Chinese rhesus macaque MHC genetics was published in the journal Immunogenetics. Two of our undergraduate researchers (Chad Pendley and Ericka Becker) are working with Shelby O'Connor to submit a manuscript describing Indonesian cynomolgus macaque MHC genetics. Justin Greene is submitting a third manuscript exploring adoptive transfer in macaques. 2008 is already shaping up as a busy year for publications.
It has also been a busy time for travel. Dave visited Washington D.C. twice and New York in November. Dave and Shelby took a much-needed vacation to Hawaii in December and will be traveling together to Sao Paulo, Brazil in February to lecture on HIV to Brazilian scientists.
Lastly we would like to welcome our newest undergraduate researcher, Kelly Sandman. In other personnel news, Chad Pendley has accepted a full-time position in our laboratory following his graduation in December. Additionally, undergraduate Kevin Campbell recently won a Mary Shine Peterson scholarship to support his continuing research in our laboratory. We are exceedingly proud of our undergraduate's high quality work, but will likely not be hiring any additional students (unless they are exceptionally well-qualified scholastically, GPA > 3.75) during the spring semester.
The last few months have been really exciting. Julie Karl's manuscript on Chinese rhesus macaque MHC genetics was published in the journal Immunogenetics. Two of our undergraduate researchers (Chad Pendley and Ericka Becker) are working with Shelby O'Connor to submit a manuscript describing Indonesian cynomolgus macaque MHC genetics. Justin Greene is submitting a third manuscript exploring adoptive transfer in macaques. 2008 is already shaping up as a busy year for publications.
It has also been a busy time for travel. Dave visited Washington D.C. twice and New York in November. Dave and Shelby took a much-needed vacation to Hawaii in December and will be traveling together to Sao Paulo, Brazil in February to lecture on HIV to Brazilian scientists.
Lastly we would like to welcome our newest undergraduate researcher, Kelly Sandman. In other personnel news, Chad Pendley has accepted a full-time position in our laboratory following his graduation in December. Additionally, undergraduate Kevin Campbell recently won a Mary Shine Peterson scholarship to support his continuing research in our laboratory. We are exceedingly proud of our undergraduate's high quality work, but will likely not be hiring any additional students (unless they are exceptionally well-qualified scholastically, GPA > 3.75) during the spring semester.
Free Fallin'
31 October 2007
A chill is in the air and the days are getting
shorter in Madison. But there is no shortage of
work in the lab. Alex Blasky and Justin Greene are
preparing manuscripts for submission while Shelby
and I just finished hosting Dr. Denis Nansera, a
pediatrician from Uganda, and Dr. Esper Kallas, a
clinician/researcher from Sao Paulo, Brazil. A
crazy and hectic week!
Earlier this month I gave a seminar to transplantation researchers in Washington D.C., a city I will be visiting twice more by the end of November. October was also a busy month for teaching. Shelby and I lectured extensively in Pathology 210, HIV: Sex, Science, and Society and Pathology 803.
The lab is happy to welcome our newest member, Dr. Dawn Dudley, who joins us after getting her PhD in Dr. Eric Arts's laboratory at Case Western Reserve University.
dave
Earlier this month I gave a seminar to transplantation researchers in Washington D.C., a city I will be visiting twice more by the end of November. October was also a busy month for teaching. Shelby and I lectured extensively in Pathology 210, HIV: Sex, Science, and Society and Pathology 803.
The lab is happy to welcome our newest member, Dr. Dawn Dudley, who joins us after getting her PhD in Dr. Eric Arts's laboratory at Case Western Reserve University.
dave
Off the Road Again
18 September 2007
Shelby and I submitted 2 NIH R01 applications in the week after we returned from Montana. Now we keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best!
Congratulations to Justin Greene who submitted a manuscript in August and also completed his Pathology Department Preliminary Written exam. Julie Karl also submitted a manuscript last month. Hopefully the next website update will reflect the positive peer review of these papers!
Chaotic
07 August 2007
I am writing this from the LaGuardia airline
terminal in New York. When many flights are delayed
- as they are now - the already small gate areas
can begin feeling entirely claustrophobic. Combine
with two parts screaming babies and a good time is
has by all.
I am in New York to meet with our friends at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. They provided support for our pilot research into nonhuman primate adoptive transfer experiments and I visited today to give a status update on this project. If all goes well, we will continue our relationship with IAVI into the future.
Last week I also visited with HIV treaters at the Medical College of Wisconsin. If our subsequent interactions are as positive as the ones we had last week, Milwaukee and Madison HIV treaters and researchers may be working together very soon.
In other late breaking lab news, I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Dawn Moore-Dudley, formerly of Dr. Eric Arts' laboratory at Case Western Reserve, will be joining our team in October. Welcome Dawn!
I am in New York to meet with our friends at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. They provided support for our pilot research into nonhuman primate adoptive transfer experiments and I visited today to give a status update on this project. If all goes well, we will continue our relationship with IAVI into the future.
Last week I also visited with HIV treaters at the Medical College of Wisconsin. If our subsequent interactions are as positive as the ones we had last week, Milwaukee and Madison HIV treaters and researchers may be working together very soon.
In other late breaking lab news, I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Dawn Moore-Dudley, formerly of Dr. Eric Arts' laboratory at Case Western Reserve, will be joining our team in October. Welcome Dawn!
Chaotic
01 August 2007
I am writing this from the LaGuardia airline
terminal in New York. When many flights are delayed
- as they are now - the already small gate areas
can begin feeling entirely claustrophobic. Combine
with two parts screaming babies and a good time is
has by all.
I am in New York to meet with our friends at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. They provided support for our pilot research into nonhuman primate adoptive transfer experiments and I visited today to give a status update on this project. If all goes well, we will continue our relationship with IAVI into the future.
Last week I also visited with HIV treaters at the Medical College of Wisconsin. If our subsequent interactions are as positive as the ones we had last week, Milwaukee and Madison HIV treaters and researchers may be working together very soon.
In other late breaking lab news, I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Dawn Moore-Dudley, formerly of Dr. Eric Arts' laboratory at Case Western Reserve, will be joining our team in October. Welcome Dawn!
I am in New York to meet with our friends at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. They provided support for our pilot research into nonhuman primate adoptive transfer experiments and I visited today to give a status update on this project. If all goes well, we will continue our relationship with IAVI into the future.
Last week I also visited with HIV treaters at the Medical College of Wisconsin. If our subsequent interactions are as positive as the ones we had last week, Milwaukee and Madison HIV treaters and researchers may be working together very soon.
In other late breaking lab news, I'm pleased to announce that Dr. Dawn Moore-Dudley, formerly of Dr. Eric Arts' laboratory at Case Western Reserve, will be joining our team in October. Welcome Dawn!
Returned
06 June 2007
We're back in Madison after a week of whirlwind
traveling to Florida and Brazil. With classes done,
the lab is busier than ever with graduate students
and undergrads spending entire days in lab.
Hopefully it will be a productive summer!
Congratulations to O'Connor lab alumnus (Sr. Vice President in Charge of Awesomeness) Kendall Krebs -- he tied the knot last weekend and is moving to Cleveland with Christi to work with Dr. Eric Arts.
In a highly anticipated matchup, the original lab soccer team, Incompetent United (with the Drs. O'Connor, Ben Burwitz, and Chad Pendley), solidly thrashed the motley upstart lab team the Long-Term Non-Progressors (which includes Alex Blasky, Justin Greene, and Ericka Becker) 3-1. Rumor has it that the LTNP were so distraught that they disbanded their team for the summer.
A few other developments to pass along:
- Undergraduate Chad Pendley won a prestigious Hilldale Undergraduate Research Fellowship for his studies on Indonesian cynomolgus macaque MHC genetics
- 1st year PhD student Ben Bimber was selected to give an oral presentation at the University of Wisconsin Immunology Symposium
- Assistant Scientist Roger Wiseman participated in an NIH think tank on nonhuman primate genetics in late May
- The website for the Knowledge Vaccine Project can now be accessed
- I was just named the Wisconsin Primate Research Center's interim Associate Director for Research Services in addition to my responsibilities as head of the Primate Center's Genetics Service.
- Shelby and I also started a new project with our friends and co-geeks Angie Mabb and Scott Svendsen to simplify supplies purchasing for academic labs. For more details, visit http://www.lab-hound.com.
Congratulations to O'Connor lab alumnus (Sr. Vice President in Charge of Awesomeness) Kendall Krebs -- he tied the knot last weekend and is moving to Cleveland with Christi to work with Dr. Eric Arts.
In a highly anticipated matchup, the original lab soccer team, Incompetent United (with the Drs. O'Connor, Ben Burwitz, and Chad Pendley), solidly thrashed the motley upstart lab team the Long-Term Non-Progressors (which includes Alex Blasky, Justin Greene, and Ericka Becker) 3-1. Rumor has it that the LTNP were so distraught that they disbanded their team for the summer.
A few other developments to pass along:
- Undergraduate Chad Pendley won a prestigious Hilldale Undergraduate Research Fellowship for his studies on Indonesian cynomolgus macaque MHC genetics
- 1st year PhD student Ben Bimber was selected to give an oral presentation at the University of Wisconsin Immunology Symposium
- Assistant Scientist Roger Wiseman participated in an NIH think tank on nonhuman primate genetics in late May
- The website for the Knowledge Vaccine Project can now be accessed
- I was just named the Wisconsin Primate Research Center's interim Associate Director for Research Services in addition to my responsibilities as head of the Primate Center's Genetics Service.
- Shelby and I also started a new project with our friends and co-geeks Angie Mabb and Scott Svendsen to simplify supplies purchasing for academic labs. For more details, visit http://www.lab-hound.com.
Grants
02 May 2007
New research proposals have been the story of the
last few months. We submitted an expanded proposal
to the International AIDS Vaccine
Initiative, revised a proposal for the
MERC New Investigator award
program, and submitted our lab's first NIH R01
grant application. This summer will see us
writing at least two more grants, an NIH R13
travel grant for the 26th Symposium for
Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS (I am the
Scientific Chair!) and revision of a program
grant. Needless to say, it has been busy!
In a way, the next few weeks will be more relaxing. I am preparing a talk for the American Association of Immunologists meeting in Miami and a visit to our collaborator Esper Kallas in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In a way, the next few weeks will be more relaxing. I am preparing a talk for the American Association of Immunologists meeting in Miami and a visit to our collaborator Esper Kallas in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Thawing
20 February 2007
The temperature in Madison has finally climbed out
of the teens, though we still may see more snow
before the end of winter (note added 2/23 - we're
supposed to get over a foot of snow this weekend!).
The last few months in the lab have been very
productive. Roger Wiseman submitted a review
article and Shelby O'Connor recently resubmitted a
manuscript on Mauritian cynomolgus macaque MHC
class II genetics. The two Bens, Bimber and
Burwitz, recently joined the lab as graduate
students, willingly submitting themselves to
several years of working around here. We also hired
a new undergraduate researcher, Ann Detmer,
bringing our total number of undergrads to four. I
am also happy to report that Jason Wojcechowskyj,
one of our former technicians, paused his tour of
the world long enough to get accepted into graduate
school at the University of Pennsylvania.
Congratulations Jason!
Growing
24 December 2006
Welcome to the O'Connor lab website. We enjoyed a
very successful end to 2006. Two papers from our
lab were published back-to-back in the Journal of
Virology, Roger Wiseman is finalizing a review
article for Transplantation Reviews, and Shelby
O'Connor is preparing a paper for submission to
Immunogenetics. Meanwhile, other members of the lab
are pursuing projects including the adoptive
transfer of immunity between SIV-infected monkeys,
improving tools for studying macaque genetics, and
conducting pilot experiments with Affymetrix
GeneChips. Three rotating graduate students helped
with these projects during the fall semester and at
least one of these students will be joining our
laboratory in the spring. We look forward to a
productive and exciting 2007.
Publishing
18 October 2006
Welcome to the O'Connor lab website. The last few
weeks have been very good to our lab. The Journal
of VIrology accepted two manuscripts detailing the
relationship between monkey genetics and SIV
infection. Roger Wiseman described some of these
results at the Nonhuman Primate Models for AIDS
meeting in Atlanta, GA. Shelby and Dave also
attended. All three even had a chance to do some
sightseeing at the Georgia Aquarium and CNN center.
The lab also obtained its first HIV research sample
from a volunteer in Madison. Dave is busy reviewing
grants, teaching classes, and generally making a
nuisance of himself.
Freedom
22 September 2006
After several months, I am finally able to edit
this webpage from my laptop! With my newfound
freedom, I will...um...I guess I don't have much to
say right now. We currently have two papers under
consideration by the Journal of Virology and are
keeping our fingers crossed. As for me, a return
trip from New York last week took nearly 12 hours,
giving me and my trusty ipod plenty of time to
contemplate the larger issues confronting the
world, such as 'when and where did kool recruit his
gang?' and 'have I always been blind to the quality
of early Phil Collins records?'.
Transitions
20 August 2006
The summer is coming to an end, and with it comes
the annual immigration and emigration of lab
personnel. This month we say goodbye to Tobi Gopon
and Jason Wojcechowskyj who will be spending the
next year overseas. We hope to welcome two to three
new lab personnel this fall, including at least one
graduate student. If you are a CMB, CMP, or MBTG graduate student
interested in my lab, please take a moment to
read my graduate student philosophy and
consider whether my lab might be a good fit
for you.
This has been a terrific summer for research productivity. We prepared two manuscripts for consideration by the Journal of Virology and received approval to conduct HIV research in conjunction with UW-Hospitals and Clinics. Researchers in the lab successfully developed new assays for virus sequencing and genetic testing. We purchased animals for an exciting new vaccine research project and began working with outside labs to help characterize the genetics of their research animals. Hopefully we can continue this momentum into the fall and winter.
This has been a terrific summer for research productivity. We prepared two manuscripts for consideration by the Journal of Virology and received approval to conduct HIV research in conjunction with UW-Hospitals and Clinics. Researchers in the lab successfully developed new assays for virus sequencing and genetic testing. We purchased animals for an exciting new vaccine research project and began working with outside labs to help characterize the genetics of their research animals. Hopefully we can continue this momentum into the fall and winter.
Redesign
19 June 2006
Wow, it's been several months since the last web
page update. The lab has grown dramatically in the
last few months. We received a new NIH award to
study SIV pathogenesis in genetically defined
monkeys and are currently waiting to hear about
another manuscript under submission. The lab now
has six full-time members and two undergraduates,
plus me. We plan on accepting rotating graduate
students from the both the CMB and Pathology
graduate programs this fall, so if you are reading
this and considering labs, please look at my
graduate student philosophy.
Anniversaries
14 February 2006
It was one year ago this week that Kendall Krebs
and I first set foot in my new lab. Our first
experiment came about 10 days later, on 2/25/05.
Since then, we have grown dramatically -- what
started as just the two of us is now me, a lab
manager, a PhD student, three technicians, and an
undergraduate researcher (even though the website
doesn't reflect this reality yet). Our ambitions
and goals scaled with our size, we are now
characterizing the genetics of different macaque
populations, undertaking SIV pathogenesis trials in
macaques, initiating HIV research in conjunction
with UW-Madison clinicians, and toying with the
idea of becoming more involved with HIV
preexpoosure prophylaxis research. Phew. Quite a
year. On another note, I'd like to welcome any
prospective CMB or CMP graduate students who are
browsing my website. Madison is a terrific city and
the UW-Madison is an outstanding institution for
advanced study.
Bustling
16 November 2005
It has been two months since our last update. The
lab has been exceptionally busy. Tobi Gopon joined
our group in mid-October and we have hosted two
rotating graduate students from the UW-Madison
Department of Pathology. In terms of progress, our
first grant, an NIH R24, was awarded late in
September. Our lab's first paper was published in
the Journal of Immunology. Yesterday, I submitted
an invited review article to the new journal Future
Virology. I taught several classes throughout
October and culminated the month by serving on an
NIH study section in Washington DC.
We have also been conducting our first SIV infection trial with Mauritian Cynomolgus macaques. As of now, we are six weeks into the infection and learning new things each and every day.
We have also been conducting our first SIV infection trial with Mauritian Cynomolgus macaques. As of now, we are six weeks into the infection and learning new things each and every day.
Repopulation
19 September 2005
Since returning from Brazil, the lab has been a
hotbed of chaotic activity. Kendall departed to
take a job in Chicago, Ben started chiropractor
school, Justin began graduate school, and Jason
returned to his undergraduate studies. A new crop
of talented and capable researchers have been hired
to take their place. Nathan Vakharia and Roger
Wiseman are already contributing to the
productivity of the lab. An eager set of rotating
graduate students are circulating through the lab
this fall, and we may take one if the fit is right.
We've also received good news on several research fronts. Our Journal of Immunology manuscript on Mauritian Cynomolgus macaques is now in press, while our first studies using these animals are slated to begin in early October. I've been furiously writing grants to help subsidize these preliminary experiments!
We've also received good news on several research fronts. Our Journal of Immunology manuscript on Mauritian Cynomolgus macaques is now in press, while our first studies using these animals are slated to begin in early October. I've been furiously writing grants to help subsidize these preliminary experiments!
Harried
01 July 2005
Another month in the O'Connor lab is in the books.
We expanded to 4.25 members this month, held our
first lab meetings, submitted two grant proposals
and one revised manuscript, purchased our first
Mauritian Cynomolgus macaques, and participated in
educational outreach programs with South Africa.
The pace should relax a little during July. I am participating in the 3rd IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Brazil. After the meeting, my wife and I are spending 10 days on the island of Fernando de Noronha.
In other exciting lab news, Kendall Krebs will be leaving us in August when he moves to Chicago. He is going to continue HIV/AIDS research in the lab of our collaborator, Steven Wolinsky.
The pace should relax a little during July. I am participating in the 3rd IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment in Brazil. After the meeting, my wife and I are spending 10 days on the island of Fernando de Noronha.
In other exciting lab news, Kendall Krebs will be leaving us in August when he moves to Chicago. He is going to continue HIV/AIDS research in the lab of our collaborator, Steven Wolinsky.
Work Opportunities
31 May 2005
A section on work opportunities within the lab is
now available. In addition to describing the types
of employment within the lab, the page describes
the lab philosophy and our expectations for its
workers.
Submitted
08 April 2005
Our lab submitted its first manuscript for
peer-review today. While we have been involved in
many publications, this is the first one led by Dr.
O'Connor. Now we'll keep our fingers crossed and
wait the 4-?? weeks until it is peer-reviewed (or
returned to us without review right away!).
Welcome
02 April 2005
Welcome to the inaugural website of David
O'Connor's laboratory. We are members of the
Department of Pathology and
Laboratory Medicine at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
Our laboratory plans on studying the pathogenetics of AIDS infection, though right now we are preoccupied with equipping the laboratory and making it functional.
We recently presented results at the 2005 Seattle International Conference on Primate Genomics. A pdf of our presentation is now available.
Our laboratory plans on studying the pathogenetics of AIDS infection, though right now we are preoccupied with equipping the laboratory and making it functional.
We recently presented results at the 2005 Seattle International Conference on Primate Genomics. A pdf of our presentation is now available.