On Friday, November 8 H-SC senior biology major Drake Bishop and Elliott Assistant Professor of Biology Dr. Kristian Hargadon ’01 presented their research on melanoma-associated suppression of dendritic cells at the University of Virginia at the VA Branch Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.  Drake began his research project in collaboration with Dr. Hargadon through the H-SC Student/Faculty Summer Fellowship Program, and he is currently extending this work throughout this academic year for his Senior Honors Project in Biology.  This work builds off of previous in vitro data from the Hargadon Laboratory demonstrating melanoma-associated suppression of the maturation and activation of dendritic cell lines.  Dendritic cells are critical regulators of host immune responses that often control the activation versus tolerization of an immune response.  Drake’s work has extended earlier studies by examining how melanoma-derived factors impact the maturation and activation of dendritic cells isolated from the spleens of mice.  In this ex vivo system, Drake has demonstrated that the activity of these bonafide dendritic cells is also altered by melanoma-derived factors, and he has identified partial roles for TGFbeta1 and VEGF-A in this tumor-induced immune suppression.  Next year, Drake will be attending Eastern Virginia Medical School, where he was accepted as a sophomore through the College’s early acceptance articulation agreement.  He plans to specialize in immunology!

Drake Bishop (left) and Dr. Hargadon (right) with their poster