News & Announcements
Retreat season
May 17th 2026. Lots of presentations over the last few months, including:
Agata presents her work at the Southeastern Virology Conference (Atlanta, GA) and UVA BioLab Symposium. She won 2nd best talk for her talk at the BioLab symposium!
Meghan presents her work at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research (Richmond, VA) and UVA undergraduate research symposium
Katie (talk) and Alex (poster) present at the annual MIC departmental retreat
Lab bonding-Time to Escape
April 25th 2026. To celebrate the end of rotation season, the Dremel & Spencer labs do escape rooms (WWII and Da Vinci Room) followed by happy hour.
Both rooms made it out on time!
Alex’s White Coat Ceremony
April 17th 2026. The School of Medicine celebrates the transition of first year BIMS students as they enter their permanent research labs. Alex will be jointly mentored by the Garcia-Blanco & Dremel labs.
Mariano coated Alex & Sarah joined in spirit!
Read more at UVA Medicine in Motion News
Spring conference
March 3-7th 2026. Sarah and Katie attend the 2nd Annual Genome Regulation through RNA conference in Playa Mujeres, MX. Gorgeous views and fantastic talks!
Katie becomes a PhD candidate
February 18th 2026. Katie has her PhD qualifying exam and passes with flying colors. New status unlocked… PhD candidate
Ringing in an end to rotation season
February 6th 2026. Celebrating Alex Mendez’ rotation with the lab and wishing him fun as he starts his upcoming rotation on Shigella.
Lab holiday party
December 13th 2025. Second annual lab holiday party, celebrated jointly with the Spencer, Tak and Wang labs at Eastwood Farm & Winery.
Huge shoutout to lab social chairs (pictured to the right)-Emily, Abby, Charlotte & Jerryd-for a fantastic job planning events, prizes & games.
Caroline wins best oral presentation
December 1st 2025. Good things come in the mail! Caroline wins award (and money) from ASM meeting for best oral presentation.
Lab brunch, because why not?
November 14th 2025. Celebrating the end of the fall rotation for Alex. In classic fashion, lab brunch involved queso frito, plantains, and tacos.
ASM Conference
November 7-8th 2025. Caroline, Charlotte, Meghan and Sarah travel to Lynchburg, VA to participate in the American Society for Microbiology Branch Conference. All three lab members gave fantastic oral presentation and the lab came home with some new gnome friends!
Fall celebration-Lab hike
October 26th 2025. The lab went to Blue Ridge Tunnel for a spooky fall hike — flashlights required!
Followed by pizza and wine at Hazy Mountain Vineyards. We were joined by BIMS rotation student, Alex, and future postdoc, Tania.
Lab anniversary
September 10th 2025. Bodos and cake to celebrate the lab’s one year anniversary. This also marks Sarah’s 10 year anniversary of studying herpesviruses!
New achievement unlocked - herpesvirus custom frosting.
Celebrating the start of a new academic year
July 3rd 2025. Lab lunch (beignets and plantains!) to celebrate two new members. Anne-Fleur is BIMS student rotating for the summer. Agata is joining us from Poland via UVA’s Visiting Student Research Program.
Meghan receives Undergraduate Summer Research Award
April 4th 2025. Meghan is awarded an Undergraduate Summer Research Award from the UVA Department of Chemistry to support her work in the lab this upcoming summer.
she didn’t want me to embarrass her with a photo, so the gif will have to do
Katie’s White Coat Ceremony
April 1st 2025. The School of Medicine celebrates the transition of first year BIMS-students as they enter their permanent research labs.
Read more at UVA Medicine in Motion News
Celebrating the end of rotation season
February 7th 2025. Celebrating the end of a very successful rotation for Katie. Lab pastries & our first photo. Spoiler alert — Katie’s coming back!
Lab holiday party
December 11th 2024. First lab holiday party, celebrated jointly with the Spencer, Tak & Wang labs!