Extracurricular Activities
The VandeWoude Lab (aka Sue VandeWoude Research Group, SVRG), while passionate about good science, is also actively involved in the great activities that Fort Collins and the surrounding area have to offer. SVRG members may be seen blaring vuvuzelas in the spirit section at Colorado Rapids soccer games, touring local establishments in style on a 16 passenger bicycle, or dressed to impress during annual Fort Collins Tour de Fat bike parade.
Those of us in the SVRG believe in finding a proper work-life balance which often seems to involve a ‘work hard – play hard’ lifestyle. Understanding that some late nights and weekends spent at the lab bench or huddled over a laptop are essential elements of any worthwhile intellectual pursuit, we embrace these times. However, we are also the first to celebrate the end of the semester, the awarded grant, accepted paper, and for some of us, the sweet day of graduation.
SVRG celebrated an outburst of genepool expansion in 2010-11, as Mauren Emmanuelli, Cindy Zheng, Martha MacMillan and Heather Miller (Craig's wife) all gave birth (3 boys, 1 girl). As of the end of 2011, members of the SVRG boast 14 children.
2012
Rocky Mountain Virology Club Meeting, Pingree Park, Colorado
Pictured left-to-right: Justin, Martha, Britta, Sahaja, Sue, Craig and Ryan
Oral/Poster Presentations:
- Justin Lee - 3rd place Graduate Oral Presentation - "The evolution of puma
lentivirus in bobcats and mountain lions
"
- Martha MacMillan - "Novel antibody therapy for feline immunodeficiency virus"
- Craig Miller - "Characterization of viral excretion and tissue tropism of feline
immunodeficiency virus in feline saliva and oral tissues"
- Sahaja Templin-Hladky - "Quantification of FIVPco subtype A in bobcats and
pumas
"
- Ryan Troyer - "Expression of APOBEC3 lentiviral restriction factors in felines"
International Feline Retrovirus Research Symposium, Leipzig, Germany
Pictured left-to-right: Ryan, Sue, Britta and Justin
Oral/Poster Presentations:
- Justin Lee - "Puma lentivirus in bobcats (Lynx rufus) and mountain lions (Puma concolor)"
- Ryan Troyer - "Feline immunodeficiency virus Vif controls viral replication in an APOBEC3 dependetn manner"
- Sue VandeWoude - "An immunologic comparison of acute pathogenic and non-pathogenic feline lentivirus infection in cats"
- Britta Wood - "Investigating CD4+ T-cell maintenance in cats co-infected with feline immunodeficiency virus"
Horsetooth Falls Hike
Pictured left-to-right: Britta, Ryan, Craig, Sue, Justin, Martha and Scott
2011
Rocky Mountain Virology Club Meeting, Pingree Park, Colorado
Pictured left-to-right: Justin, Britta, Alex, Scott, Sue, Ryan, Wendy and Mauren
Oral/Poster Presentations:
- Scott Carver - 3rd place Post Doctoral Oral Presentation - "Urbanization and pathogen exposure in sympatric populations of wild and domestic felids"
- Mauren Emanuelli - "Novel vaccination strategy for feline immunodeficiency virus"
- Alex Griffith - 2nd place Undergraduate Poster Presentation - "Incidence of domestic cat derived feline leukemia virus infection in two distinct North American wild felid populations"
- Justin Lee - "Investigating molecular mechanisms of cross-species transmission of puma lentivirus between bobcats (Lynx rufus) and mountain lions (Puma concolor)"
- Wendy Sprague - "Characterization of FIV infected cells using flow cytometric labeling"
- Ryan Troyer - "Accessory genes modulate feline immunodeficiency virus replication"
- Sue VandeWoude - "An emergent FIV quasi-species displays in vivo growth capacity"
- Britta Wood - 3rd place Graduate Poster Presentation - "Elevated plasma IL-12/23 in acute feline immunodeficiency virus infections detected by microsphere immunoassay"
My Handle Bar bike ride through old town Fort Collins
Pictured left-to-right: Craig, Martha, Alex, Britta, Ryan, Wendy, Sue, Scott and Mauren
Fort Collins ‘Tour de Fat’
Pictured left-to-right: Scott, Britta, Karen, Sarah, Justin and Ryan
2010
International Feline Retrovirus Research Symposium, Charleston, South Carolina
Pictured left-to-right: Martha, Britta, Sue, Justin and Wendy
Oral presentations:
- Justin Lee - 1st place Young Investigator Award - "Use of host and pathogen molecular markers to determine population substructure among bobcats (Lynx rufus) in a fragmented landscape in southern California"
- Martha MacMillan - "Rapid development of lymphomas in cats with virulent FIV infection"
- Craig Miller - "Strain-specific neuropathology of FIV"
- Wendy Sprague - "FIV as a model for studies of innate immune cell function during lentiviral infections"
- Sue VandeWoude - "FIV tissue distribution during co-infection with avirulent lentivirus"
- Britta Wood - "Development, optimization and validation of a multiplex microsphere-based feline cytokine assay"
Fort Collins ‘Tour de Fat’
Pictured left-to-right: Britta, Karen, Justin, Alex, Sarah and Scott
2009
Fort Collins ‘Tour de Fat’
Pictured left-to-right: Sarah, Justin and Britta