Rebecca Pompano and her team of researchers consisting of scholars from around the country have won a $50,000 prize in the Compliment-Animal Research In Experimentation (Compliment-ARIE) competition hosted by the National Institute of Health.

Rebecca and her team created an in-vitro model consisting of cells originally from human donors. The cells are cultured to form tiny replicas of the brain, lymph node, and adipose tissues. These cells are then integrated into a single small housing that is no bigger than a credit card. The team plans to continue their research by adding more functions and cell types to the housed system until they can create a model that is efficient enough to study neuro-immune infections like influenza & SARS-CoV-2, as well as neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer’s and brain cancer. Professor Pompano and her team will use this award to continue their research in partnership with the Compliment-ARIE program.

To read more about the competition and the summary for each of the prize-winning teams, click here.

Congratulations to Rebecca and her research team!