We are thrilled to announce that Arthur Cheng will be joining the lab as graduate student #23 (!). Arthur is himself surprised to be joining the Vance Lab, as he didn’t really imagine that he would join an immunology lab for his PhD. However, his project will be to decipher the mechanism by which the SP140 chromatin regulator represses gene expression — so more “immunology-adjacent” than pure immunology.
Arthur grew up in China and attended San Diego State University for his undergraduate work. He worked for three years in Anjana Rao’s Lab at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, studying DNA methylation and cancer. In his spare time, Arthur enjoys fishing and snowboarding. He is excited to learn about the coevolution of pathogens and the immune system.
In other good news:
– Bianca Parisi passed her qualifying exam with flying colors and has thus assumed her position as PhD Candidate (#22).
– The 20 year Barton-Vance lab reunion has been announced. Dates are: June 20-22, 2025 (more than a year from now). Contact Russell if you were inadvertently left off the invite list and you want to come.
– Several folks have left (or are leaving) the lab for greener pastures: Ella Brydon, Ophelia Lee, and Joshua Mao are all starting PhD programs on the east coast in the Fall. Congrats to all of them on their accomplishments!
– Kristen Witt obtained her PhD in December and is considering her next moves while finishing up her paper as a postdoc in the lab.
– The lab is undergoing a renovation! We will be getting new benchtops, a new paint job, and refinished cabinetry. We are temporarily moving into the former Winoto Lab space while the work is being done.
– After a hiatus of several years, the Sugar Daddies (aka Greg and Russell) returned as champions of the annual Barton-Vance Bocce Tournament, defeating the Caramelizers (aka Dmitri and Stefan). As a result, Greg and Russell retain the rights to decide which lab meeting they don’t want to hear (or can sell the rights to the lab meeting exemption to a needy lab member).
