I worked with Dr. Blackburn this summer through the Markey STRONG program. My project’s scope focused primarily on the radioresistance associated with missense mutations in TP53, and how those mutations (uniquely) collaborate with the H3K27M mutation found in 80% of children with DIPG. We investigated this relationship within zebrafish (WT + p53 knockout) models as…
This summer, I had the opportunity to work in the Blackburn Lab through the Kentucky INBRE Summer Research Program. I investigated Deferoxamine as a drug therapy to prevent relapse in patients with T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It was an invaluable learning experience to run RT-PCRs, cell cycle analyses in the FACS Core, and experiments in…
In October 2023 me and Jessi had the chance to go to Durham-North Carolina to attend the 16th Zebrafish Disease Models Society annual meeting. This meeting brings together researchers using zebrafish to model different human diseases. Research findings from the fields of cancer, skeletal muscle diseases, inflammation, gastrointestinal diseases and others were presented. Presenters shared…
During 2023 I worked in Blackburn Lab as visiting scholar and I had an amazing experience. I am professor in Brazil and during this year, I made a training to work with oncology research using zebrafish as animal model. I was involved in many projects which allowed me to go far beyond my expectations. My…
-Trace Jolly, University of Kentucky, Blackburn Lab The Blackburn lab uses zebrafish to study a variety of pediatric cancers. Our lab does this through two main techniques: 1-Transplants and 2- Transgenic Models. Zebrafish transplants/engraftments are a valuable model for examining how cells derived from an external source behave when implanted into a living organism. This…
I had the opportunity to attend the 2024 annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in San Diego, California. This meeting is one of the largest gatherings in the field of cancer research globally. The AACR annual meeting brings together more than 20,000 attendees from around the world, including biomedical researchers, clinicians,…
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 10, 2023) – Using antibodies derived from alpacas, a University of Kentucky research team has developed a tool that could lead to new therapies to stop the growth of several types of cancer. While cancer researchers have known that a protein called PRL-3 is linked to the growth of colon, breast, lung, skin…
This summer I worked under Evelyn as a research assistant where we investigated different, non-traditional drugs as radiosensitizers for DIPG tumors. I did this through culturing SCC127 cells and injecting them into zebrafish embryos and testing these drugs both with and without radiation to see if the drugs would allow of the resensitization of…
This week I just wrapped up presenting my summer project with Majd on the potential mechanism involving mitochondrial alterations in Amiloride’s targeting of leukemia-initiating cells (LICs) of T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) through NHE1 inhibition. I was able to look at the mitochondrial phenotype induced by Amiloride treatment and the mitochondrial stress genes involved, all…
This summer marked an important moment in my academic journey as I successfully passed my PhD qualifying exam and I am now a Pharmacology PhD candidate! It has been an incredible experience filled with growth, learning and support from my mentors and peers in the lab. My proposal aims to validate a novel target…
These gifs show the early development of zebrafish embryos after being injected with morpholino oligonucleotides (MO) which target and disrupt the function of their respective target genes. The exploding embryos were injected with MO targeting PRL-1, 2a, 2b, and 3 (panPRL), while the embryos that develop regularly were injected with random control MO. This…
Thanks to our June 2023 superstars for making the lab awesome! Izzy Snyder: One last lab superstar award for Izzy for her general amazingness and for getting everything and everyone organized before she left for her new job as a Research Specialist II at Johns Hopkins. We all will miss her so much! Beppy Badgett:…
We recently received 2 extra years of funding on my R37 award from the National Cancer Institute to study how the phosphatase PRL-3 contributes to cancer progression! PRL-3 is a known oncogene, which plays a crucial role in cancer development and metastasis in solid tumors and leukemias, but even though PRL-3’s importance in cancer was…
Caroline officially left the lab (and moved to North Carolina) this week to start her new job at the V Foundation! We went bowling for one last lab hangout and I got my best score ever! Maybe sadness gives me skills haha. She is my last grad student from when I very first started the…
My name is Majd Al Hamaly, and I am the newest member of the Blackburn lab. I have started in May 2022 after completing the IBS year, and I am working toward a PhD in Pharmacology. I have a master’s degree in Pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Jordan, completed a graduate fellowship in the…
I recently attended a Gordon Research Seminar and Conference on Extracellular Vesicles in Newry, Maine. In the Blackburn lab one focus of my project is based on how pediatric tumor neural stem cells communicate with each other. Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) caught my attention when I attended a research symposium on EVs at the University of…
This past summer, I had the privilege of working in the Blackburn Lab as part of the Markey STRONG Program. I applied for this program because I have a passion for working with cancer patients in the future as a physician and I wanted to get some experience in a research lab on a project…
This summer (May 2022) I had a chance to visit the neighboring Cincinnati to attend the 13th International Workshop on Myeloid Stem Cells and Leukemia.. Coming from a Myeloid Leukemia and underlying transcription control background, my main goal to attend this meeting was to update myself about the field and to try and apply current…
I was very fortunate to be invited to give a Mini-symposium podium presentation at the AACR 2022 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA on April 10, 2022. I was able to attend this meeting in part by being awarded a GMaP Region 1 North Travel Award which is funded by the NCI, and the Office…
My name is John Blair, I am a senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School and the Math Science Technology Center in Lexington, KY. This school year, I conducted research at the University of Kentucky. During my time at the Blackburn Lab, I helped transform various mutations of the PRL-3 protein as part of the…
I had a great time in Jessi’s lab this summer! I was able to learn a variety of techniques and protocols through all of the amazing people there! One such technique was embryo injections into the eggs of zebrafish. I injected a mixture that would induce cancer in zebrafish that did not have PRL-3. In…
Our lab studies the human prenylated protein tyrosine phosphatase PRL3 and its role in promoting metastatic activity in cancer. My project is more specifically focused on the mechanisms of PRL3 regulation. The current work is focused on how the post-translational modification profile of PRL3 impacts a metastatic phenotype. By over expressing PRL3 in…
At our last lab meeting, I updated everyone on my project that has thus far focused on designing nanobodies, derived from alpaca heavy-chain only antibodies, that specifically bind to PRL-3. One of the biggest caveats to studying PRL-3 is the lack of tools that are currently on the market that directly target this protein. We…
Hello everyone! So something cool that Meghan and I were recently tasked with was starring in a movie! By publishing through JOVE, we were filmed performing the different methods and procedures we used to xenograft primary patient samples into zebrafish larvae. I now know that it’s true that science can lead you to some unexpected…
Min attended ASH, the American Society of Hematology annual meeting, which is the major hematology meeting each year that thousands of clinicians and scientists attend. Min presented a poster on the role of PRL-3 in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia onset and progression, as well as her work identifying PRL-3’s substrate. You can check it out below!…
Caroline and I were so excited to attend Kristin’s wedding at her hometown in Edmonton KY this weekend! She looked really pretty and she and Michael were both smiling non-stop the entire time. Her mom was really cute, and excited to see Caroline and me–she said she hears about the lab from Kristin all of the…
My name is Tyler Sullivan and I am a senior chemistry student at Morehead State University. Working in the Blackburn lab as part of the KBRIN program has been one of the most exciting experiences of my career. The environment was definitely very welcoming and helpful; everyone was more than willing to answer questions that I…
This summer I had the chance to attend a Gordon Conference on Wnt signaling in Mount Snow, Vermont! It was a great experience to be able to attend a smaller conference and network with people in the field. I presented a poster on the relationship between PRL-3 and Wnt signaling in leukemia stem cells and…
Congrats to our no-longer undergrads! Brad is off to med school at the University of Cincinnati and Kristin is entering the PhD program here at UK. In his year in the lab, Brad helped get our project injecting human cancer cells into zebrafish off of the ground, and probably quantified about 9 million xenograft images.…
Caroline was recently selected to be part of the Associate Member Council at the American Association of Cancer Research. The council is made up of graduate students and post-docs, and they are the representative body for all associate members world-wide (currently 13,000!) There are only 12 members of the council (only one other member besides…
Margaret Blair (on the left), our Paul Laurence Dunbar MSTC researcher, just won first place in the Cellular and Molecular Biology section at the Kentucky Science and Engineering Fair, which is the big state science fair! Her project focused on the role of vascular endothelial growth factor in leukemia onset and progression, which she analyzed…
We recently had Lexington high schoolers visit the lab and learn about the benefits of zebrafish in cancer research! Here, Jessi is showing the students how to use our Nightsea flashlight to screen for zebrafish that have GFP-tagged leukemia. Not so surprisingly, not every student was into wearing our really dorky filter glasses to look…
I went to Tokyo, Japan to attend the Workshop on Frontiers in Phosphatase Research and Drug Development at the end of October, 2018. I gave a short talk and also presented my work in a poster on the oncogenic phosphatase PRL3 at the conference. In addition, I had a nice discussion with the researchers from…
In the middle of July, Jessi, Min and myself were able to attend the FASEB: Protein Phosphatases meeting in Snowmass Village, CO! Min and I both presented posters on our work at the meeting. Min presented the story of PRL3 as an oncogenic phosphatase in T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. I presented the beginnings of my…
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in the University of Kentucky’s 3 Minute Thesis (3 MT) competition. The 3 MT originated out of the University of Queensland, and has become an international event. The idea behind the 3 MT is to help scientists to effectively communicate their research with the broader…
Hello Dear Reader, I would like to share the very belated, very happy news with you- I got married!! Woo!!! My husband and I got married May 10th in Arenas de San Pedro, Spain (he is from Spain). I am including this announcement on the lab website blog because I want to emphasize…
Dear readers, I have a confession to make… graduate school is hard. Shocking, I know. If you think that you should go to graduate school because it will be an easy, interim step between undergrad and the “real world,” you will be quickly disabused of that notion. Graduate school will test you in every capacity…
Hello everyone! My name is Caroline Smith and I am the newest graduate student that has joined the Blackburn lab. I joined the lab in April, and I am now beginning to start my second year of graduate school. I completed my undergraduate career at Bellarmine University in Louisville, KY with a Bachelor of Science…
Hi all, My name is Ashley and I spent the summer working in Dr. Blackburn’s lab as part of a 10-week program called Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU). When I first got accepted into this program, I was both excited and intimidated at the prospect of doing research. I had no idea what it would…
Congrats to Meghan for breezing through her quals on Friday! She is without a doubt the best MD/PhD student in the lab 😉 and we are lucky to have her on the team as she cranks through her PhD!
Hey, everyone. It’s Shea again! I recently got to present my research findings on my study repurposing FDA-approved compounds against T-ALL at my school’s senior symposium, which means that I am wrapping up both my senior year and my time in the Blackburn lab all too soon. I had a great time getting to share…
Hey, everyone! As you may know, I am a high school senior working in Dr. Blackburn’s lab. I have had an absolutely amazing experience working with the team for the past year and a half, and it has helped shape my goals for my education in the future. That being said, I have been applying…
Kristin was featured recently in a nice article in UKNow, “Training Kentucky’s Next Generation of Cancer Fighters“, where she discussed her work in the lab as well as all of the outreach she is doing. We’re super proud of her and all of the great things she’s doing! Click the link to watch the video…
Hey everyone! I recently got to create my very own poster using my data from the lab since November 2016, and I used it to compete in the regional science fair. My project focuses on repurposing a panel of FDA-approved compounds with known ability to inhibit protein tyrosine phosphatase inhibitors and testing for their activity…
Holy moly world! This semester has been a whirlwind of activity and emotions, both professionally and personally. I’ll try to update in chronological order: May: Presented a poster at the Markey Cancer Research Day. June: Attended the Midwest Zebrafish meeting with Jessi and Shea. I was also invited to present a talk at this meeting,…
Congratulations to Min and Rachel on passing your quals–we are all really proud of you! I’m so lucky that in my first year here at UK, the two best grad students in the IBS program joined the lab! Here’s to two–but no more than 3 😉 –more years of fun and awesome data!
I passed my oral exam this morning! And now I am a PhD candidate. Look at the beautiful flowers from my PI, Dr. Jessica Blackburn! I feel blessed in such a supportive environment in the lab.
My name is Kouree Chesser and I recently completed a 10 week research experience in Dr. Blackburn’s lab. This opportunity was made possible through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU). Prior to joining the Blackburn lab, I had no previous research experience, and I am actually studying chemical engineering, not biochemistry. Right…
My name is Shea Hausman. I am a rising high school senior, and I have been working in the Blackburn lab since November. When I tell people that I work in a cancer research lab using zebrafish, I normally get two questions: “Why zebrafish?” and “What can you even do?” The, “Why zebrafish?” question is…
Hey guys! I know it has been a while since I’ve posted a blog, but a busy graduate student has to prioritize, and unfortunately a blog post on the lab website is a pretty low priority when compared to data, finals, and socializing. But to make up for my absence, I will be writing several…
So for the past 6 months I’ve been following a protocol on how to ‘clone’ or make a syngeneic fish line. This has proved more difficult than anticipated due to the protocol being very deleterious for the embryos (heat shocking them at 46 degrees for 2 minutes!) as well as on the parents….I can now…
Hey guys, I have done… I finally finished… it is over… I have officially submitted my first student fellowship application to the NSF GRFP (https://www.nsfgrfp.org/ ). It was a monumen tal month this past October, between class work really kicking in and all of the work needed to submit this application. As a result of…
Woo! I can’t believe it is already August. This summer has flown by so fast between meetings, conferences, vacations, moving, ect. It feels like just a week ago I was a first year graduate student afraid of holding a pipette or to ask questions, and yet I have been here for a year now. As…
Over the past couple of months I’ve been learning how to microinject…which happens to be the most difficult and most frustrating things I’ve ever done. There are just so many parameters! You’ve gotta check the needle, cut the needle to the proper size, make sure the size of the bubble you will be injecting into…
Congratulations Rachel on receiving a travel award to present your poster at the Purdue Biochemistry Symposium!
After an exciting week, we microinjected our zebrafish embryos with a Crispr/Cas GFP construct in the hopes of promoting homology directed repair and tagging the hsp70i gene with GFP.
Check out our awesome new fish facility from Aquarius Fish Systems. Space for 8,000 animals and room to grow!
We just received a UK Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) Pilot Project grant to identify new ways to target leukemia propagating cells. Read more about it on our Research page!