News

T. Curtis Shoyer Defends Ph.D. Dissertation

Congrats to T. Curtis Shoyer who successfully defended his Ph.D. Dissertation on experimental and modeling approaches to investigate molecular-scale mechanosensitive processes in collective cell migration. We wish him the best of luck in his postdoc and scientific career!

PNAS

T. Curtis Shoyer and Dr. Evan Gates published their work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) titled "Coupling during collective cell migration is controlled by a vinculin mechanochemical switch". See more under the Publications tab, or check out a brief summary of the paper here. Way to go, Curtis and Dr. Gates!

Nature Communications

Dr. Juilee Malavade publishes her work in Nature Communications titled "Molecular basis and cellular functions of vinculin-actin directional catch bonding". See more under the Publications tab. Way to go, Dr. Malavade!

Curtis gives talk at Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology

Curtis Shoyer traveled to the Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology at Cornell University, where he recieved an Emerging Scholar Award and presented his research on mechanosensitive mechanisms in collective cell migration.

Meghan, Siyan, Nikki, and Benjamin present research at 2023 BMES Annual Meeting

Meghan Reynolds presented a podium talk on "Investigating vinculin-tension-sensitive protein-protein interactions by mass spectrometry." Siyan He presented a poster on "Investigating membrane-cortex adhesion using FRET-based tension sensors". Nikki Angel presented a poster on "Understanding the reciprocal crosstalk of mechanical and inflammatory cues on pulmonary fibrosis". Benjamin Johns presented a poster on "Screening the mechanical performance of fluorescent proteins in living cells". Congratulations to Meghan, Siyan, Nikki, and Benjamin!

Meghan Attends Triangle Cytoskeleton 2023

Meghan presented a poster on her work "Identifying Vinculin-Tension-Sensitive Protein-Protein Interactions by Mass Spectrometry" at the 2023 Triangle Cytoskeleton Conference.

 

Juilee Malavade defends dissertation

Congrats to Juilee who defended her thesis dissertation on Tuesday, September 19th on the function of vinculin-actin catch bonding in fibroblast mechanobiology! We wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors in industry!

Curtis Teaches Summer Module

Curtis Shoyer taught a summer module "Introduction to Digital Image Processing" as part of Duke's Research in Engineering Program (DukeREP).

Curtis attends EMBO

Curtis Shoyer presented his work on collective cell migration in Dresden, Germany at the EMBO conference, "Physics of Living Systems: From physical properties to biological function".

Curtis Shoyer Selected as Weill Institute Emerging Scholar

Congratulations Curtis!

Hoffman Lab Attends ASCB 2022

Dr. Hoffman, Curtis and Juilee attended ASCB 2022 in Washington D.C. Curtis presented a poster and Juilee gave a Minisymposium Talk. Great work everyone!

Triangle Cytoskeleton 2022

The Hoffman Lab attended the Triangle Cytoskeleton conference at the North Carolina Museum of Natural History on Monday September 19th, 2022. Great work to all the attendees and congratulations to Curtis Shoyer on being awarded Best Poster!

Congratulations Dr. Tao!

Congratulations to the newly anointed Dr. Arnold Tao for successfully defending his thesis Thursday September 15th, 2022!

Hoffman Lab Receives Spark Seed Grant

Congratulations to the lab for receiving a DST Spark Seed Grant from Duke's Office for Research and Innovation!

Curtis Wins CMBE Travel Award, Gives Talk

Curtis Shoyer received a travel award for the 2022 BMES CMBE (Cellular and Biomolecular Engineering) Conference, where he gave a research talk titled "A Mechanochemical Switch for Supracellular Migration." Great work, Curtis!

Ben Presents at BSURF Poster Session

Congrats to Benjamin Johns, rising sophomore, on his recent poster presentation titled “Biosensors to Investigate Collective Cell Migration.” Thank you to Duke’s Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Fellowship (BSURF) program for an awesome summer!

Congratulations Dr. Collins!

Kasie Collins successfully defended her thesis titled "Developing a Generalizable Assay for Probing the Effects of Mechanical Force on the Function of Fluorescent Proteins within Molecular Tension Sensors" on March 30th, 2021. Congratulations DR. Collins!

Hoffman Lab Virtually Attends CMBE Awards Symposium

Congratulations Dr. Hoffman for hosting a successful CMBE Awards Symposium on January 22nd, 2021 and congrats to all the awardees!

Hoffman Lab Virtually Attends BMES 2020

Congratulations to Arnold, Curtis and Juilee who presented talks virtually!

Meghan Wins CBTE Fellowship

Congratulations to Meghan Reynolds, rising second year PhD student on receiving the CBTE fellowship/ NIH National Institute for General Medical Science training grant!

Welcome Siyan and Erick!

The Hoffman lab welcomes Siyan and Erick to the lab as first year PhD students! Congratulations and welcome aboard!

Dr. Hoffman Wins Bass Fellowship and Named Appointment!

Dr. Hoffman was named a 2020 Bass Fellow as one of five faculty members who demonstrated excellence in research and undergraduate instruction. Congratulations Dr. Hoffman, we are very proud!

Curtis Wins NSF Fellowship

Congratulations to Curtis on being awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship!

Congratulations Dr. Gates!

Evan defended his thesis on March 25th, 2020 titled "Vinculin-Mediated Mechanocoupling in Epithelial Sheet Expansion". Excellent job Dr. Gates!

ASCB 2019

Dr. Hoffman and Arnold Tao traveled to Washington D.C. for the American Society of Cell Biology (ASCB) Annual Meeting. Dr. Hoffman presented a poster while Arnold gave an oral presentation. Excellent job, Arnold!