Each quarter, Antibodies.com offers a travel grant up to $500 to help cover the cost of attending a conference. These travel grants are open to PhD candidates, post-docs and other research staff from academic research institutions in the US or Europe. The grant is intended to help cover the costs of registration, accommodation, and travel to a conference of choice.
For a chance to win, simply complete the application form below, including a summary of your research or abstract for the conference.
A team of our scientists will read all research summaries/abstracts that are submitted and select the winner based on which research they find most interesting. The winner of each quarter will be notified by email within the first two weeks of the subsequent quarter.
Xiaoxue Han, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
I was honored to receive the Antibodies.com travel grant, which allowed me to attend the Chicago Bioengineering Conference (CBEC) 2024, where I presented my poster titled Hydrogel-based Exosome-Coated Oxygen Nanobubbles Enhances Wound Healing by Alleviating Hypoxia, Improving Angiogenesis, Suppressing Inflammation, and Reducing Scarring. My research aims to address critical challenges in non-healed wounds, including hypoxia, inflammation, and insufficient angiogenesis, which can severely delay recovery and impair patients’ life quality.
To overcome these issues, I developed a bio-adhesive polyvinyl alcohol/gelatin hybrid hydrogel dressing incorporating exosome-coated oxygen nanobubbles. Exosomes isolated from adipose-derived stem cell (ADSC)-derived mesenchymal stem cells can promote cell migration and angiogenesis, while reducing inflammation, due to the active therapeutic proteins and mRNA they carry. This approach not only alleviates tissue hypoxia but also enhances the targeted delivery of exosomes, promoting angiogenesis and reducing inflammation, ultimately leading to improved scarless wound healing outcomes in a full-thickness wound rat model. Further work will focus on different animal models, including the surgical incision wounds.
The intracellular uptake of Dio-labeled exosome-based nanoparticles in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF-a).
Attending CBEC 2024 gave me a valuable opportunity to showcase this work and engage in insightful discussions with experts in bioengineering and regenerative medicine. The experience has expanded my perspective on the potential applications of my research and provided important feedback that will help drive my future research studies. I am deeply grateful to Antibodies.com for their support, which made this rewarding experience possible and contributed to the advancement of innovative solutions in tissue engineering research.
Lara Hundsdorfer, University of Tübingen
Attending the ASCB/EMBO Cellbio2024 Conference in San Diego was an amazing experience, and I am incredibly grateful to Antibodies.com for supporting this journey with their travel grant. I had the exciting opportunity to present my work on our live-cell imaging-compatible cell stretching device in the session “Building Tissues Across Scales: From Micro to Macro”. Furthermore, it was great to exchange ideas with peers at the poster session about the second part of my project: The collective infected cell extrusion of bacterially infected epithelial cell monolayers via ERK activation waves. My research aims to uncover how mechanical stretch impacts the behavior and bacterial infection dynamics of epithelial cell monolayers.
The conversations and discussions with fellow researchers were not only insightful and inspiring but also provided valuable feedback and started potential collaborations for advancing these projects. The Cellbio2024 conference offered an incredible diversity of topics, which was ideal given the interdisciplinary nature of my work. Visiting numerous posters and attending many outstanding presentations provided fresh input and new information.
Collective extrusion of epithelial MDCK cells infected with the intracellular pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.
Participating in career development sessions, made this experience valuable for me on both a professional and personal level. Beyond the science, the conference was a great opportunity to network and connect with fellow researchers from around the globe. A special thanks to Antibodies.com for making this possible - allowing me to escape the grey German winter and enjoy the perfect combination of sunshine, science, and inspiration.