Lab News

October 2023

Michael attended the 11th Annual Masonic Cancer Center Research symposium, where he presented his research entitled "DNA Adductomics to Characterize Acetaldehyde-Induced DNA Damage".

This focuses on the development of DNA adducts as biomarkers in humans of exposure and risk from alcohol consumption. 

October 2023

Matt attended the 11th Annual Masonic Cancer Center Research symposium, where he presented his research entitled "Metabolism of Deuterium-Labelled Carcinogen N'-Nitrosonornicotine in Smokeless Tobacco Users".

October 2023

Michael attended the annual department of pharmacology retreat, where he gave a presentation of his research entitled "High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry-Based DNA Adductomics to Characterize Acetaldehyde-Induced DNA Damage".

This focuses on the development of DNA adducts as biomarkers in humans of exposure and risk from alcohol consumption. 

September 2023

Dr. Giorgia La Barbera came all the way over from Copenhagen to visit us at the Balbo Lab! 

She spoke at the Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention program data club with a talk focusing on the development of a DNA adduct database with comprehensive information on both DNA adduct source and structure. She was able to meet with graduate students, researchers at the Masonic Cancer cCenter, and enjoy a lab get-together lunch!  

September 2023

Andrew's poster presentation called "DNA adductomics analysis to characterize DNA damage in the liver of Atlantic cod exposed to crude oil" received the First Place Best Student Poster award!

He was presented this award by the Elsevier Mutation Research Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis journal during the conference banquet.

September 2023

Michael was presented with the EMGS student and new investigator travel award at the conference banquet. 

This award provides Michael with registration to attend EMGS 2023 as well as funds for travel to Chicago, IL! He will be a featured presenter at the conference with his research with a poster. 

September 2023

Silvia was the chair of a symposium at EMGS 2023 focusing on Adductomics: an approach to explore the health effects of the exposome. This talk emphasized recent advances, discoveries, and applications in adductomics. 

Her talk was entitled, "DNA adductomics, new frontiers in DNA damage characterization" which provided information on the current state of the field, highlighted the latest developments, and considered the path forward for DNA adductomics to become a standard method to characterize DNA damage.

September 2023

Silvia gave a talk at EMGS 2023 during the Advancing the battery of in vivo testing assays in genetic toxicology symposium which focused on providing an update on the recent development of various in vivo genotoxicity assays. 

Her talk was entitled, "High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry based methods to improve the characterization of genotoxicity" going into detail on MS-based methods to support the identification of biomarkers for precision medicine and its employment in biomonitoring.  

September 2023

Michael presented his research focusing on DNA adductomics to characterize alcohol-induced DNA damage as a flash talk during EMGS 2023!

September 2023

Foster presented his research investigating the DNA adductome of lung carcinogenesis as a flash talk during EMGS 2023!

September 2023

Andrew presented his research entitled "DNA adductomics analysis to characterize DNA damage in the liver of Atlantic cod exposed to crude oil" for EMGS 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.

This focuses on the identification of potential PAH-derived DNA adducts and endogenous oxidative DNA adducts in Atlantic cod resulting from crude oil exposure using mass spectrometry. 

September 2023

Michael presented his research entitled "High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry-Based DNA Adductomics to Characterize Acetaldehyde-Induced DNA Damage" for EMGS 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.

This focuses on the development of DNA adducts as biomarkers in humans of exposure and risk from alcohol consumption 

September 2023

Foster presented his research entitled "Investigating the DNA adductome of lung carcinogenesis" for EMGS 2023 in Chicago, Illinois.

This focused on the identification of DNA adducts to be used as biomarkers for early detection and support the development of strategies for the prevention and treatment of lung cancer.  

Click HERE to learn more about EMGS 2023 

August 2023

The Balbo Lab traveled to the corn capital of the world in Olivia, MN to participate in the Renville County Walk in the Park! 

This is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing emotional and supportive services to newly diagnosed cancer patients in Renville County. 

Silvia thanked cancer survivors and community members at the Renville County Walk in the Park for their donation to the Balbo Lab! 

July 2023

The Balbo Lab celebrated and wished Chiara well as she accepted a new position at Pfizer! 

She spent 3 years in the lab working on her Master's and as a researcher on numerous projects like the development and optimization of analytical methods for the identification and detection of colibactin DNA adducts. 

We will miss seeing Chiara in the lab, but we will visit her in Boston! 

June 2023

Congratulations to Valeria for getting her Ph.D.! 

She defended her thesis called "DNA Modifications as Biomarkers for Precision Medicine in Patients Treated with Alkylating Drugs." 

June 2023

This award provides Michael with registration to attend EMGS 2023 as well as funds for travel to Chicago, IL! He will be a featured presenter at the conference with his research with a poster. 

Click here to learn more about EMGS 2023 

June 2023

Kevin presented an oral session at the ASMS 2023 conference in Houston, Texas.  His research focused on the development of a sensitive high-resolution LC-MS/MS approach for global profiling of urinary mercapturic acid conjugates. 

June 2023

Chiara presented a poster at the ASMS 2023 conference in Houston, Texas. Her research focused on the direct chemical characterization of double-stranded oligonucleotides crosslinked by the microbiome-derived genotoxin colibactin by high-resolution mass spectrometry. 

Click here to learn more about ASMS 2023 

May 2023

The Chateaubriand Fellowship is a grant offered by the Embassy of France in the United States. It supports outstanding Ph.D. students from American universities who wish to conduct research in France through a merit-based competition. 

Foster will be working in our collaborator Dr. Jiri Zavadil's lab at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, France on research that aims to identify driver DNA adducts contributing to mutational signatures induced by environmental toxicants. 

May 2023

Andrew presented his research entitled "Investigating antineoplastic drug contamination in veterinary canine patients by LC-SRM-MS/MS" for AIHA 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona.

He was awarded First Place Gold Best in Show Poster and Best Student Poster by the Opioids Working Group. 

This focused on promoting awareness of the potential exposure to chemotherapy drugs in a workplace setting and intervention strategies.  

Click here to learn more about AIHce EXP 2023 

April 2023

Dr. Emily Balskus took a short trip from Harvard to visit us at the Balbo Lab! She spoke at the Masonic Cancer Center Seminar Series with a talk on deciphering the human microbiome with chemistry. She was able to meet with students, researchers, and enjoy a lab get-together dinner!  

Click here to watch here seminar talk! 

April 2023

This award provides Andrew with registration to attend AIHce EXP 2023 as well as funds for travel! He will be a featured presenter at the conference with his research with a poster. 

Click here to learn more about AIHce EXP 2023 

April 2023

Andrew will present his research with a poster on the investigation of antineoplastic drug contamination in veterinary canine patients by LC–SRM–MS/MS. 

March 2023

Kevin will present his research with a talk on the development of a sensitive high-resolution LC-MS/MS approach for global profiling of urinary mercapturic acid conjugates. 

Click here to learn more about ASMS 2023 

March 2023

Chiara will present her research on the direct chemical characterization of double-stranded oligonucleotides crosslinked by the microbiome-derived genotoxin colibactin by high-resolution mass spectrometry. 

Click here to learn more about ASMS 2023 

February 2023

Andrew presented his research entitled "Assessment of chemotherapy drugs in veterinary occupational settings" for the American Industrial Hygiene Association Healthcare Working Group Hazardous Drug Team. 

This focused on promoting awareness of the potential exposure to chemotherapy drugs in a workplace setting and intervention strategies and education opportunities to increase worker safety. 

January 2023

Chiara received the Microbiome and Cancer Seed Fund from the Masonic Cancer Center. This is a seed fund of up to $2,500 sparked from new collaborations between cancer and the microbiome. 

November 2022

Michael gave a presentation of his research at a seminar for the department of pharmacology!

His research focuses on investigating the role of acetaldehyde in the carcinogenesis of individuals with Fanconi anemia and ALDH2 mutations. 

November 2022

Andrew shared his research titled "Assessment of chemotherapy drugs in occupational settings", with the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) at the University of California, Berkeley. 

This focused on promoting awareness of the potential exposure to chemotherapy drugs in a workplace setting and intervention strategies and education opportunities to increase worker safety. 

October 2022

Andrew presented his research virtually at a conference in Olso, Norway. The Forum for  Offshore Environmental Monitoring is sponsored by the Norwegian Environmental Agency. 

This is an annual event for operators, authorities, suppliers, institutions, and people with an interest in marine monitoring, mainly related to offshore petroleum operations.

His work is a collaboration with the Univesity of Stavanger that focuses on the identification of DNA adduct using mass spectrometry. 

September 2022

Congratulations to Silvia for receiving her third R01!

This grant is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIHAAA) and entitled Dissecting the role of acetaldehyde in oral carcinogenesis. 

The long-term goal is to unravel the mechanisms through which alcohol-derived acetaldehyde induces mutations and cancer in the oral cavity, and to develop biomarkers to identify individuals at higher risk of oral cancer and support effective prevention strategies. 

September 2022

Andrew presented his research at the 2022 ISEE Conference, focusing on the effects of environmental exposures in people, stimulating communication between health professionals, promoting methodological advances, and strengthening environmental health policy.

His work focuses on the assessment of chemotherapy contamination in veterinary oncology settings. 

September 2022

Chiara presented her research at the 2022 Microbiome & Cancer Symposium, showcasing exciting research at the intersection of cancer and the microbiome at the University of Minnesota, highlighting potential new opportunities, and sparking new synergies between researchers across relevant fields of expertise.

Her work focuses on the chemical characterization of Colibactin-DNA Interstrand crosslinks in short oligonucleotides by HRMS.

August 2022

The Balbo Lab participated in the Driven to Discover (D2D) Research program for the project "Developing tobacco and nicotine related biomarkers" during the Stevens County Fair. 

Use of tobacco products can cause various diseases of the oral cavity, including cancer. By analyzing a variety of oral samples that participants provided, this project aims to develop a test to determine whether those at risk can be identified.

August 2022

Silvia spoke to cancer survivors and the community members at the Renville County Walk in the Park to thank them for their donation to the Balbo Lab! 

August 2022

The Balbo Lab traveled to the corn capital of the world in Olivia, Mn to participate in the Renville County Walk in the Park! 

This is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing emotional and supportive services to newly diagnosed cancer patients in Renville County. 

August 2022

Andrew shared his research on the assessment of chemotherapy drugs in occupational settings with the board of directors at the Midwest Center ERC CE meeting. This focused on promoting awareness for the potential exposure to chemotherapy drugs in a workplace setting as well as interventinos strategies and education opportunities to increase worker safety. 

July 2022

This award will support Andrew's attendance at the 34th International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE 2022) Annual Conference, September 18-21, 2022, in Athens, Greece.

He will be presenting his research on the assessment of chemotherapy drugs in occupational settings.  

To learn more about the award, click HERE!

June 2022

They traveled to Madison, WI for the fourth annual North American Mass Spectrometry Summer School (NCQBCS)! This was a four-day class covering the fundamentals of mass spectrometry from leading experts in the field. Tutorial lecture topics included: Mass Analyzers, Ionization, Tandem MS, Chromatography, Shotgun Proteomics, Instrument Acquisition and Setup, Data analysis, and PTMs. Lectures and workshops for scientific and professional development were headed up by Dr. Josh Coon. 

June 2022

Kevin presented his research at the 70th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics (ASMS 2022). This conference aims to promote and disseminate knowledge of mass spectrometry and similarly related topics. This conference has over 2,700 poster presentations and 384 talks.

His poster presentation was entitled, "Changing the Discovery DNA Adductomics Paradigm: From Manual Curation to Automated Data Processing Pipelines"

June 2022

Members of the lab attended ASMS 2022 as it took place in Minneapolis, MN this year. 

This was a four-day conference that focused on all things mass spectrometry. We were able to listen to oral sessions, look at posters presenting different research, take part in workshops, and learn from professionals in academia and industry. 

June 2022

Congratulations to Andrew for receiving his second Torske Klubben Fellowship through the UMN Graduate School!

His project will focus on characterizing DNA damage in cod exposed to crude oil and elucidating the chemical structure of the DNA adducts. Hopefully, this research will help with developing effective tools for monitoring the effects of the oil industry in the Norwegian North Sea.

He will receive $16,000 for tuition and research. 

May 2022

Andrew presented his research at the 2022 American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Expo (AIHce EXP) to address topics related to occupational safety and health.  

His work focuses on the assessment of chemotherapy contamination in veterinary oncology settings. 

He was awarded:

1. Best in Show Student Poster

2. Best Student Poster - AIHA Fellows Special Interest Group

3. Best Student Poster - Sampling and Laboratory Analysis Committee

4. Best Student Poster - Opioids Working Group 

As well as being selected as the top pick from the Occupational Epidemiology Committee. 

May 2022

Andrew presented his research at the 21st International Symposium on Pollutant Responses In Marine Organisms (PRIMO21) in Gothenburg, Sweden. This conference aims to provide an interdisciplinary scientific forum to present and discuss research on the environmental effects of anthropogenic activities on the health of aquatic ecosystems.  

His work focuses on the identification of biomarkers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon environmental contamination through DNA adductomic analysis of liver DNA of Atlantic cod exposed to crude oil.

May 2022

Andrew presented his research at a The National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Symposium is an annual event hosted by the Midwest Center for Occupational Safety and Health to address a topic related to occupational safety and health.  

His work focuses on the assessment of chemotherapy contamination in veterinary oncology settings. 

Click here to view his presentation!

May 2022

Congratulations to Foster for being selected as one of this year's Top 10 Outstanding Abstracts at the 10th Annual Masonic Cancer Center Research Symposium!

His abstract entitled "LC-HRMS characterization of cyclophosphamide-derived DNA damage to identify predictive biomarkers" focused on his biomarker research. 

He presented on May 2nd as well as attending the finalist lunch with a keynote speaker Dr. Laura Esserman and dinner with a keynote speaker Dr. Tucker LeBien.  

May 2022

Congratulations to Andrew and Chiara for presenting their research at the 10th Annual Masonic Cancer Center Research Symposium!

Her abstract entitled "Detection of colibactin-DNA crosslinks in oligonucleotides by high-resolution mass spectrometry" focused on underlying the chemical details and mechanism of intrastrand crosslink formation by colibactin in collaboration with Harvard University. 

His abstract entitled "LC-MS/MS surface sampling method development of chemotherapy contamination in occupational settings" focused on understanding the potential antineoplastic surface contamination present in veterinary oncology clincs. 

April 2022

Welcome to the Balbo Lab Marta!

Marta is a graduate student at the University of Milan studying Medicinal Chemistry. She was selected as part of a joint program between the two universities to complete her Master's thesis over the course of 9 months.   

April 2022

Renville County Walk in the Park is honored to be able to help fund cancer research! Silvia talked at the cancer survivors dinner to give an update on our research and thank the wonderful Renville County residents and supporters!

April 2022

Welcome to the Balbo Lab Matt! 

Matt returned to the University of Minnesota after working at Borregaard USA. He was a research scientist working on formulation chemistry and QC. 

As part of the Balbo lab, he will work on our cyclophosphamide project and DNA adductomics work, specifically on the correlation between NNK and LPS. 

April 2022

Andrew presented his research at a combined joint symposium between the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Division of Environmental Health Sciences and the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health Environmental Health and Engineering Division. 

His work focused on the assessment of chemotherapy contamination in veterinary oncology settings. 

March 2022

Michael finished his three 8-week rotations across different labs as part of the University of Minnesota Medical School College of Pharmacy. 

He has chosen to complete his Ph.D. with Dr. Silvia Balbo investigating the role of acetaldehyde in the carcinogenesis of individuals with Fanconi anemia and ALDH2 mutations. 

January 2022

Andrew has been invited by his co-advisor, Dr. Susan Arnold, to work on a literature review. This will focus on providing an experience in identifying academic course curricular risk assessment methods in Occupational Health and Hygiene. He has joined the InTERACCT Team, a collaborative group composed of industrial hygiene experts from various universities. 

November 2021

Michael is part of the UMN college of pharmacy working on his Master's. 

November 2021

Michael started an 8-week rotation in the Balbo Lab to learn more about mass spectrometry and DNA adductomics! 

This program is part of the University of Minnesota Medical School College of Pharmacy. 

September 2021

Our proposal for the Pilot and Feasibility Award - for the Spring 2021 program of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF) has been approved for funding!

September 2021

Foster and Andrew start their 2nd and 3rd years of graduate school this September. They will be taking a mix of in-person and online classes during the Fall Semester while working in the lab, continuing their research projects. 

August 2021

Congratulations to Valeria for her new position at Pfizer, in Connecticut! 

After finishing working on her PhD project in the Balbo Lab, she will be a Senior Scientist in the Mass Spectrometry facility for the detection and the measurement of small molecules.

We wish you all the best, and we already miss you!

August 2021

The Balbo Lab wished Romel good luck as he was offered a new position at 3M! 

He spent 7 years in the lab working as a Post Doc on numerous projects. 

We will miss seeing Romel in the lab, but will see him again over Zoom!

June 2021

To celebrate events in the Balbo Lab and to take a breather before a 1-week lab break. 

We had a grill out and pool party all together, with members of the Balbo Lab, colleagues, and friends. 

June 2021

Congratulations to the Balbo Lab and our collaborators at Harvard. They received R01 grant funding for research focusing on  Colibactin. 

June 2021

Chiara returned to the lab after working at Eurofins in Milan, Italy. She was in the medical device division, testing for the chemical characterization and the biological safety and risk assessment of medical devices. 

As part of the Balbo lab, she will work on the development and optimization of analytical methods to screen for DNA damage caused by the toxin colibactin, as a biomarker for the prevention of colorectal cancer. 

She also has a new dog, named Safari!

April - June 2021

Andrew was chosen as one of the 39 participants connected from 26 countries for the live kick-off session of the Cancer Epidemiology module of the #IARCSummerschool! It is 8 weeks of intense learning & international networking with the goals to stimulate research in cancer epidemiology and cancer prevention by improving scientific knowledge and developing skills among researchers worldwide.  To learn more visit: https://learning.iarc.fr 

April 2021

Congratulations to Kevin  for successfully publishing his paper "Extension of Diagnostic Fragmentation Filtering for Automated Discovery in DNA Adductomics". 

March 2021

The Masonic Cancer Center held a zoom webinar called Conducting Research in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Ethics in an Emergency. 

Distinguished panelsists from several univeristies ranging for the UMN School of Public, NIH Clinical Center, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, etc. 

This webinar focused on topics like advancing ethics and equity during pandemic research, how to reconcile the need for research with the clinical imperative to save lives, and how the pandemic is affecting research design.

January 2021

The Balbo Lab celebrated and wished Alessia well as she accepted a new position at Boston Scientific! 

She spent 3 years in the lab working as a Post Doc on numerous projects like the development of mass spectrometry-based molecular markers for early cancer detection and improving cancer chemotherapy protocols. 

We will miss seeing Alessia in the lab, but will stay in touch with good food and drinks over Zoom!

November 2020

The Masonic Cancer Center's Community Outreach and Engagement Team will soon be launching virtual lab tours from the Balbo and Stepanov labs as a means to connect with communities and students while we cannot host in person lab tours. 

The photos above show clips from the Balbo lab tour where several different experiments on DNA extractions were recorded.

September 2020

September 2020

Andrew and Foster are starting their first week back at school!

Classes for the UMN SPH are all online, so they will be learning new material and making new friends virtually this semester!

August 2020

Congratulations to Foster and Andrew for winning first place at the UMN SPH Back to School Trivia!!

They got to participate in a fun night with new and old friends while playing trivia, coming in first place, and get to know the new students!

August 2020

The goal of this project is to advance our mass spectrometry (MS) adductomics methods and develop algorithms to screen for an array of DNA adducts formed with hazardous chemicals playing a role in kidney cancer. 

Over the past three decades the methods used to screen for DNA adducts in humans have largely investigated the effects of a single exposure at a time and provided limited information about causative agents in the etiology of cancer. In this project we are addressing the critical need to develop robust and specific methods to detect global DNA damage of the genome in a single assay for risk assessment. 

August 2020

Congratulations to Alessia with her presentation on the "Analysis of double-stranded oligodeoxynucleotides crosslinked by the bacterial genotoxin colibactin using HILIC chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry". 

August 2020

Congratulations to Andrew for his video interview with the Masonic Cancer Center! 

This was part of his award as a Top Finalist for the 10th Annual MCC Symposium! 

June 2020

Congratulations to Foster for receiving the Kelly P. Coleman Toxicology Fellowship through the UMN School of Public Health, Division of Environmental Health Sciences.

He will receive $10,000 in support for his tuition and research.

June 2020

This funding will help with the sample collection and increase our collaboration with the Pampanin Lab in Norway.

Congratulations Silvia!

Congratulations to Andrew for receiving the Torske Klubben Fellowship through the UMN Graduate School!

His project will focus on characterizing DNA damage in cod exposed to crude oil and elucidating the chemical structure of the DNA adducts. Hopefully, this research will help with developing effective tools for monitoring the effects of the oil industry in the Norwegian North Sea.

He will receive $16,000 for tuition and research. 

April 2020

Congratulations to Romel for successfully publishing his paper "Metabolomics Profiles of Smokers from Two Ethnic Groups with Differing Lung Cancer Risk". 

The manuscript was selected to be on the cover of the Chemical Research in Toxicology Journal! 

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, research at the U of MN has been put on hold. 

The Balbo Lab has been following the shelter in place directions from governor Tim Waltz, and have continued to work collaboratively from home since mid-March. 

We have daily check-in meetings where we talk about our research, upcoming projects, and fun things to do in quarantine!

p.s. Happy Birthday Alessia!!

Congratulations to Andrew for being selected as one of this year's Top 3 Outstanding Abstracts at the 10th Annual Masonic Cancer Center Research Symposium!

His abstract entitled "DNA Adductomics of cod exposed to crude oil to identify polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon biomarkers" focused around his biomarker research. 

He will be featured on the MCC Facebook page and received at $1,500 travel award. 

Congratulations to Andrew for receiving the Midwest Center for Occupational Safety and Health (MCOHS) Pilot Project Research Training Program! 

His project is entitled "Investigation of Doxorubicin and Cyclophosphamide Reaction with a Decontamination Products using High Resolution Mass Spectroscopy" 

He will receive $20,000 and present his results at the 2021 NORA Research Symposium.  

Congratulations to Alessia for receiving a postdoctoral fellowship from the Minnesota Colorectal Cancer Research Foundation! This grant is in the memory of Norm and Pat Wells. 

The funded project is called "Identification of risk to colorectal cancer using molecular DNA damage profiling from the E. coli-produced genotoxin Colibactin in colonoscopy samples."

She was awarded $75,000. 

Thank you, Renville County, for your support and sharing our goals in the fight against cancer!

Congratulations to Foster on his acceptance into the University of Minnesota's School of Public Health graduate program!

He will be starting graduate school in the fall of 2020 as a student in the division of Environmental Health with a concentration in Regulatory Toxicology and Risk Assessment. 

The Balbo Lab organized a potluck lunch to celebrate the holiday season and the end of another successful year.

The lab is fortunate to have among it several good cooks/bakers. It is always fun to try new dishes and get another taste of established favorites. This year our gift exchange was organized as trivia competition. 

Chiara traveled to the Balbo Lab all the way from Italy to complete the research component of her Master's thesis. She spent eight months in the lab working on our alcohol-project. She graduated from the University of Milan in March 2020 receiving the maximum grade on her thesis. 

Chiara fell in love with Minneapolis and is looking to return. We cannot wait to see her again. 

The end of summer means saying goodbye to Courtney, again. What better way to do it than over sundaes at Annie's Parlour?

Courtney has been a part of the lab for the past two summers, working with several ongoing projects as well as her own project for undergraduate credit at Carleton College.

Her contributions and bright personality were a great addition to the lab, and we can't wait to see what she does in the future!

For the second year in a row, the Balbo Lab participated in the Driven to Discover (D2D) Research program during the MN State Fair. 

Our project, Swishin’ and a Swabbin’ for Science, collected a variety of oral samples from interested fair goers. Participants had a chance to help advance our research by spitting in a tube, swishing saline in their mouths, and swabbing their cheeks. These samples were collected as part of our biorepository and will be used in current and future research.

President Gable even stopped to discuss the project with Silvia on her tour of the building.

Congratulations to Valeria for receiving a travel award for her poster presentation at the 2019 American Society of Chemistry Conference!

The results of our colibactin research were published in Science. This was a collaborative effort between the Balbo lab, Peter Villalta of the mass spectrometry core facility, and the Balskus lab at Harvard University. 

Once again, a small celebration was in order. Alessia brought cookies decorated with DNA, chromatography, and of course Colibactin to commemorate the occasion!

Congratulations to Valeria for receiving the Mary Lauren Olson Scholarship from the Minnesota Environmental Health Association!

Her projects will focus on characterizing DNA damage from alcohol and chemotherapy exposures. Hopefully, this research will help with developing effective tools for monitoring alcohol consumption and personalize chemotherapy. 

Francesco has been visiting the Balbo Lab for the summer, but now he is traveling back to Italy.  He was working on a server for the lab as well as new software to help process mass spectrometry data. We really enjoyed having him, and can't wait to see him again!

Alessia will be awarded $10,000 for supporting her research on investigating oral cancer risk factors in Fanconi anemia patients. During the award presentation event at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Alessia also had the opportunity to tour the locker room and field of the 2018 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles!

Congratulations to Romel (Outstanding and Best Overall Postdoc Oral Presentation, Division of Chemical Toxicology) and Alessia (Outstanding Poster Presentation)!

Congratulations Silvia for receiving your first R01 grant!

The focus of the grant is on the DNA adductome of lung carcinogenesis. 

A small celebration was in order!

Romel and Andrea received the 2017 American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) Postdoctoral Career Development Awards!