Speck Lab at University of Pennsylvania https://specklab.upenn.edu Thu, 29 Apr 2021 00:30:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://specklab.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/38/2021/04/cropped-Favicon_114-80x80.png Speck Lab at University of Pennsylvania https://specklab.upenn.edu 32 32 Suean Fontenard Named to Cell Mentor’s 1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America https://specklab.upenn.edu/2020/12/28/suean-fontenard-named-to-cell-mentors-1000-inspiring-black-scientists-in-america/ Tue, 29 Dec 2020 01:18:47 +0000 https://specklab.upenn.edu/?p=11149 Suean Fontenard, a postdoc in Speck Lab, has been named to Cell Mentor’s list of 1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America.  The distinction aims to “dismantle the myth that outstanding Black scientists make up a small percentage of the scientific community.”  

Read more here.  Congratulations, Suean!

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Nancy A. Speck elected into the National Academy of Sciences https://specklab.upenn.edu/2019/05/01/nancy-a-speck-elected-into-the-national-academy-of-sciences/ Wed, 01 May 2019 15:57:28 +0000 https://specklab.upenn.edu/?p=11097 Dr. Nancy A. Speck has been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Congratulations, Nancy!

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Former Speck Lab Member Wins Nikon Competition https://specklab.upenn.edu/2018/10/17/former-speck-lab-member-wins-nikon-competition/ Wed, 17 Oct 2018 19:43:17 +0000 https://specklab.upenn.edu/?p=11077 Dr. Amanda Phillips Yzaguirre, former Speck Lab member, recently made the top 20 list of winners in the 2018 Nikon Photomicrophy Competition.  Dr. Yzaguirre, a postdoc at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies (La Jolla, CA) won 16th place for her entry, ‘Mouse oviduct vasculature.’

 

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Dr. Nancy Speck Recipient of 2018 ISEH Donald Metcalf Award https://specklab.upenn.edu/2018/03/03/dr-nancy-speck-recipient-of-2018-iseh-donald-metcalf-award/ Sat, 03 Mar 2018 22:44:01 +0000 https://specklab.upenn.edu/?p=11082 Congratulations to Dr. Nancy Speck, winner of the 2018 Donald Metcalf Award given by the International Society of Experimental Hematology (ISEH)!   The award was established in 1999 in honor of Professor Donald Metcalf, “the father of hematopoietic cytokines.” In recognition of Dr. Metcalf’s pioneering work on the control of blood cell formation, this award recognizes distinguished scientists in the field.

Click here to learn more about the Metcalf Award.

 

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Speck Lab to Host RUNX Conference November 12-15, 2017 https://specklab.upenn.edu/2017/10/09/speck-lab-to-host-2017-runx-conference/ Mon, 09 Oct 2017 14:23:33 +0000 https://specklab.upenn.edu/?p=11040 The 21st International RUNX 2017 Conference will be held at the University of Pennsylvania in the historic city of Philadelphia, in the United States of America. The RUNX 2017 Conference is sponsored by generous donations from the Abramson Cancer Center, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, The RUNX1 Research Program, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the Eunice and Irving Leopold Annual Scientific Symposium and Retreat. The Editors of the forthcoming book, to be published by Springer Press, “RUNX Proteins in Development and Cancer” have also generously donated their royalties to help support the meeting.

The recipients of the RUNX1 Research Program’s two grant programs (in partnership with Alex’s Lemonade Foundation for Childhood Cancer and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) will be featured in talks and breakout sessions on November 13th. The RUNX1 Research Program supports research in, and patients with, the RUNX1 familial platelet disorder with a predisposition to acute myeloid leukemia (FPD/AML).

Visit the conference website for more information: http://www.runx1.com/philly-2017

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Amanda Yzaguirre Wins 3rd Place in 2016 Art in Science Competition https://specklab.upenn.edu/2016/07/24/amanda-yzaguirre-wins-3rd-place-in-2016-art-in-science-competition/ Sun, 24 Jul 2016 15:03:57 +0000 http://beta2.pendari.com/pennlab/?p=10923 With ongoing advancements in imaging technology and tools, scientists have an increased ability to generate exciting data and also to create visually compelling works of art.  The aim of Perelman School of Medicine’s Art in Science competition is to raise awareness and bring exposure to the artistic merit of images produced during the course of scientific investigation, and to encourage both scientists and non-scientists to appreciate these images from a different perspective: the visual qualities of scientific inquiry. The competition serves also as an opportunity for scientists to engage with and communicate their work to a broader audience.  Held annually, the competition is open to Perelman School of Medicine graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Speck Lab congratulates Amanda Yzaguirre for winning 3rd place in this year’s competition for her entry, Embryonic Head Vasculature.

Embryonic Head Vascalature

From Amanda: The embryonic head was recently identified as a source of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Before mapping the location of hematopoietic and hemogenic endothelial cells in the head, I first needed to determine the location of the arteries, veins and capillary beds.

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Nancy A. Speck, PhD, Named Chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania https://specklab.upenn.edu/2016/07/12/nancy-a-speck-phd-named-chair-of-the-department-of-cell-and-developmental-biology-in-the-perelman-school-of-medicine-at-the-university-of-pennsylvania/ Tue, 12 Jul 2016 19:05:00 +0000 http://beta2.pendari.com/pennlab/?p=10828

PHILADELPHIA — Nancy A. Speck, PhD, a widely recognized international leader in the field of blood-cell development, has been named chair of the department of Cell and Developmental Biology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also the associate director of Penn’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine, co-leader of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at the Abramson Cancer Center, and is an investigator in the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute.

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Nancy A. Speck, PhD

Over the course of her more than 30-year career, Speck has made many important contributions to better understand developmental hematopoiesis (the formation and development of blood cells) as well as translating these findings to fighting leukemia. (Genes required for blood cell formation and function are often mutated in human leukemia.)

Her contributions to the field include identifying proteins Runx1 and CBFβ, mutations of which are regularly found in leukemia. Speck’s biochemical and molecular characterization of these factors – before and after linking them to leukemia – has enabled rapid progress in understanding their role in normal and malignant blood-cell development.

“Nancy has distinguished herself as a research scientist, teacher, and mentor,” said J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, executive vice president for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine. “She has made many significant contributions to our understanding of how blood cells develop and how the process goes wrong in certain types of leukemia. Her long record of leadership and discovery in the classroom and the lab will be immensely valuable to cell and developmental biology research at Penn. She has already laid out a bold and collaborative vision for the department, which is widely regarded as one of the best in the country.”

Speck has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals. In addition to her contributions to basic science, she serves as a reviewer for the scholarly journals Blood, Nature, Nature Genetics, Cell Stem Cell, Cancer Cell, Science, PNAS, and other publications. Speck has served on and chaired study sections at the National Institutes of Health, American Society of Hematology, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, as well as many national and international grant review panels and committees. Her honors include the Leukemia Society of America scholar award and Fogarty International Center senior fellow award. Most recently she received the 2015 Henry M. Stratton Medal for Basic Science from the American Society of Hematology for her “seminal contributions in the area of hematology research.”

Speck earned her PhD in biochemistry from Northwestern University and completed postdoctoral research fellowships in retroviral pathogenesis (viruses whose genes are encoded in RNA instead of DNA) and eukaryotic gene regulation at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and at MIT. She started her own laboratory at Dartmouth Medical School, progressing from assistant professor of biochemistry to professor. She then held the James J. Carroll Chair of Oncology at the school before joining the Penn faculty in 2008 as professor of cell and developmental biology.

Speck succeeds Jon Epstein, MD, who has assumed the role of executive vice dean and chief scientific officer of Penn Medicine.

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