We will continue providing lab updates & announcements here.
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May 27th, 2025: Beth gave a stellar presentation at the 5th Annual PROPEL Symposium on systemic mediators and interorgan crosstalk in knee osteoarthritis. She presented her work during the scholar talks session and as a poster. Way to go Beth!
May 15th, 2025: Congratulations to Jess Wagner for passing her qualifying exam - the first in the lab!! Pictured is Jess's committee right after the exam. Woohoo!! (From left to right, top to bottom: Richard Souza, Jess Wagner, Kelsey Collins, Kristine Godziuk, Diana Alba, Peggy Cawthon)
April 30th, 2025: The first goodbye from the lab! Reyna is starting her next chapter at dental school, so we celebrated her last day with matcha lattes and matcha cheesecake. Congratulations, Reyna! We will miss you! Not goodbye, just see you later :')
April 25th, 2025: Priscilla presented her work at the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) Annual Meeting in Incheon, South Korea. She was invited to present her work in the Highest Rated Late Breaking Abstracts Session, and got to do some sight-seeing outside of the conference.
March 27th, 2025: Dr. Mohit Kapoor and his lab at the University of Toronto hosted Jess for week of learning their metabolomics pipeline and collaboration. We're so grateful for the opportunity to work with their group and excited to work on multi-omics of knee osteoarthritis! (From left to right: Dr. Mohit Kapoor, Jess Wagner, Dr. Jason Rockel)
March 25th, 2025: During Jess's visit to the Kapoor Lab at the University of Toronto, she popped in to a Toronto Maple Leafs game. Nothing like some hockey in Canada between learning some complex tissue analyses, right?! What a dream!
March 20th, 2025: UCSF hosted Stanford for an afternoon of interdisciplinary collaboration on approaches to Osteoarthritis research. Dr. Collins and Dr. Nidhi Bhutani from Stanford led the molecular and tissue biology approach to studying OA. So grateful for the opportunity to implement team science!
March 19th, 2025: Rounding out our performance during the poster presentation, Kristen's poster on "Developing Designer Adipocytes as a First-in-Class Treatment for Osteoarthritis" won 2nd Place for Best Predoctoral Poster. Amazing job, Kristen!
March 19th, 2025: The Collins Lab made a serious impression at the CCMBM Retreat with our awesome poster presentations! Beth's poster on "Serum Lipids and Complement Factors Define the Systemic Osteoarthritis Profile in Male Mice" won 1st Place for Best Junior Research Scientist Poster. You rock, Bethany!
March 4th, 2025: Our group hosted Dr. Zsuzsa Jenei-Lanzl (middle left) from Dr. Rolf M. Schweite Research Unit for Osteoarthritis, Univeristy Hospital Frankfurt, Germany. A little Ladle and Leaf lunch before her incredible seminar on Autonomic Dysfunction in OA!
February 24th, 2025: We were so grateful for the opportunity to attend the Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM) Retreat at the Golden Gate Club! We heard so many great talks and presentations on CRISPR and advances in stem cell technology. (from left to right: David, Kristen, Priscilla, Tiffany, Jessica, Hope)
February 10th, 2025: Our group contributed many poster and platform presentations at ORS - including Tiffany showcasing her work on post-traumatic OA, sham surgery, and pain in mice. Amazing job Tiffany and team!
February 10th, 2025: Best part of science conferences is food with friends! The Collins Lab enjoyed some fuel while debriefing ORS with neighboring labs and collaborators. We love Phoenix!
February 7-11th, 2025: The Collins Lab took to Phoenix for the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) Annual Meeting to showcase our science and learn from experts across the field. (from left to right: Priscilla, Tiffany, David, Hope, Beth)
December 6th, 2024: (from top to bottom & left to right) Jessica, Beth, Priscilla, Kristen, Hope, and Reyna at the UCSF Department of Orthopedic Surgery Holiday Party hosted at the San Francisco Design Center Galleria.
November 1st, 2024: Hope Welhaven was awarded the Epidemiology Training for Research on Aging and Chronic Disease (NIA T32) Grant! Congratulations, Hope!
October 18th, 2024: Our fearless leader, Dr. Kelsey Collins, giving a talk at the 2024 Annual UCSF Department of Bioengineering Retreat at Asilomar Hotel & Grounds in Monterey, CA.
October 18th, 2024: Tiffany had an amazing opportunity to present a poster at the 2024 Annual UCSF Department of Stem Cell Biology (DSCB) Retreat at Asilomar Hotel & Grounds in Monterey, CA. Go Tiffany!
October 8th, 2024: Dr. Kelsey Collins was awarded the prestigious NIH New Innovator DP2 Award! She has been recognized as an early-stage investigator with high-impact research ideas in the Collins Lab. Check out more info here!
September 17th, 2024: Our annual lab retreat was a full day of science, year updates, and setting goals for the coming year. We capped off the day at The Story of Ramen, where we learned how to make ramen from scratch. Educational and rewarding!
September 17th, 2024: More from our annual lab retreat dinner at The Story of Ramen. (from left to right: Hope and Beth practicing their blow torch skills with moral support from David)
September 14th, 2024: (from left to right) Dr. Kelsey Collins, Hope Welhaven, and Jessica Wagner represented the Collins Lab at the UC Women of Ortho Summit held at UCSD in San Diego, CA.
August 23rd, 2024: Welcome to the lab, Sonya Sar! Sonya joins us as a high school intern from San Jose. Please visit the People page to learn more about her.
August 20th, 2024: Welcome to the crew, Hope Welhaven! Hope joins us as a postdoctoral fellow after concluding her graduate studies at Montana State University. Please visit the People page to learn more about her!
August 15th, 2024: And we're back at Oracle Park for the Annual Orthopedic Surgery Research Retreat! The Collins Lab enjoyed sun, baseball, and good times with all of our friends and neighoring labs in Ortho!
(From L to R: Priscilla Tjandra, Naomi Cinque, Bethany Andoko, Reyna Villa, Celine Ngo, Jessica Wagner)
August 15th, 2024: The Collins Lab along with the whole Department of Orthopedic Surgery having a [base]ball at Oracle Park!
August 13th, 2024: On top of her talk, Kristen also gave a poster presentation at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Trainee Networking Conference in Los Angeles, CA. Beautiful poster, Kristen!
August 13th, 2024: Kristen Chan presenting on her work in cell therapy and osteoarthritis in the Collins Lab at the CIRM Trainee Networking Conference in Los Angeles, CA.
August 1st, 2024: Priscilla was awarded the K12 grant through the Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) from the NIH. Congratulations, Priscilla!
June 6th, 2024: Snacks make everything better! Today's lab meeting was fueled by snacks from Indonesia.
June 1st, 2024: Hello summer and welcome to our new undergraduate interns, Ryan Selle from Scripps College and Nchegem Nyenke from UC Berkeley! Read more about them on the People page.
May 30th, 2024: UCSF held its 3rd Annual PROPEL Symposium, which included a poster exhibition, networking, and presentations from our fabulous PROPEL scholars!
May 7th, 2024: Beth was awarded the CCMBM Junior Investigator Grant Development Award, which granted her the opportunity to host a dinner at Zuni Cafe with UCSF faculty members to brainstorm and discuss interdisciplinary MSK research ideas.
(From L to R: Allan Basbaum, Sarah Knox, Bethany Andoko, Jarret Weinrich)
April 28th, 2024: Welcome, Celine, to the crew! Celine Ngo joins us from the UCSF School of Dentistry. Visit the People page to learn more about her!
April 1st, 2024: Welcome to the lab, Jess! Jessica Wagner joins the lab as a Graduate Student from the Rehabilitation Science PhD program. Visit the People page to learn more about her!
April 1st, 2024: Happy lab-iversary! The Collins Lab turns 1, and we celebrated with bowling at the Presidio Bowl. Our excellent lab skills certainly transferred over to our glamorous bowling skills... it's all about that hand-eye coordination!
March 18th, 2024: Priscilla gave a stellar talk at the 2024 Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) Scientific Retreat in Chaminade Resort & Spa in Santa Cruz! Her talk provided insights on the work our lab is currently doing to investigate the role of metabolic factors on OA disease progression and pain.
March 13th, 2024: Beth gave a poster presentation on her work in the Collins Lab at the 10th Annual UCSF Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine (CCMMB) Retreat. This event was hosted in Genentech Hall at the Mission Bay campus.
March 13th, 2024: Reyna was selected to present her TED-style talk, titled "Unmasking Osteoarthritis", based on her Saf O/Fast Green-stained histological knee joint image, at the 10th Annual CCMBM Retreat in Mission Bay!
March 12th, 2024: Emma presented a fabulous slam talk at the 10th Annual UCSF Core Center for Musculoskeletal Biology and Medicine (CCMMB) Retreat's Slam Talk Competition! This event was hosted in Genentech Hall at the Mission Bay campus.
March 7th, 2024: Behind-the-scenes once again! Here we have Tiffany and Reyna at the histological sectioning workstation, located within the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery research labs at Parnassus.
March 7th, 2024: What's a Collins Lab photoshoot without exclusive behind-the-scenes shots? Here we have our inseparable cell-based therapy duo Tiffany and Kristen, along with our precious (and shy) knee joint plushy!
March 7th, 2024: Tiffany and Reyna sectioning paraffin-embedded murine knee joints molds and collecting slides at the microtome station.
March 7th, 2024: Reyna, Priscilla, Emma, and Dr. Collins performing a Saf O/Fast Green staining procedure at our histological staining bench.
March 7th, 2024: The Collins Lab's newest group photo and our first of 2024.
Pictured (back row, L to R): Reyna Villa, Bethany Andoko, Dr. Kelsey Collins, Priscilla Tjandra; (front row, L to R): Tiffany Pham, Kristen Chan, Emma Nedley.
February 26th, 2024: On top of Reyna’s winning histology image being the first image ever generated in our group, this was also our lab’s first time attending the annual IRM Stem Cell Retreat. Peek our first group ussie of 2024!
February 26th, 2024: Reyna Villa shined during her TED-style talk at the 2024 IRM Stem Cell Retreat! Her talk on osteoarthritis follows her People’s Choice win at the IRM Holiday Party Science Art Contest. We were in awe of the devotion to cutting-edge research within the UCSF Stem Cell community and the work presented at the retreat.
January 2024: Congratulations to Emma for being selected to join the Dental Student Research Program! We are thrilled to support her presentation on the role of the infrapatellar fat pad in osteoarthritis at UCSF's Clinical Research and Excellence Day. Emma works with Dr. Collins and Dr. Souza, and is under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Berens and Roger Mraz in the School of Dentistry.
January 9th, 2024: All smiles and laughter at the Holiday Party, jointly hosted by the Departments of Anatomy and Microbiology.
January 8th, 2024: Kristen Chan joined the lab as a CIRM Master’s Student! We are excited to learn from her as she brings her experience from working in the pharmaceutical industry to our designer adipose anti-cytokine stem cell therapy projects.
January 2nd, 2024: Dr. Collins’ first senior author paper, titled "Designer Fat Cells: Adipogenic Differentiation of CRISPR-Cas9 Genome-Engineered Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells", was published in European Cells & Materials.
December 12th, 2023: Congratulations to Reyna for winning the People’s Choice Award in the UCSF Stem Cell image competition at the IRM Holiday Party. This Safranin O/Fast Green-stained mouse knee joint is the first histology image generated in our group!
December 4th, 2023: Dr. Collins and Beth presented at the Inaugural Chicago Center on Musculoskeletal Pain (C-COMP) Symposium at Rush University in Chicago, IL. Dr. Collins’ talk and Beth’s poster highlighted the lab’s goals of disentangling the role of adipose and neuroimmune crosstalk in OA pain. Beth also participated in pain testing training with the Malfait-Miller Lab at Rush.
December 1st, 2023: Priscilla presented her dissertation research, titled “Systemic Bone Loss Following Myocardial Infarction and the Role of the SNS and Complement System” at the Orthopaedic Surgery Research-In-Progress (RIPS) series.
November 17th, 2023: Watch party to support and learn from Eva Gonzales, PhD (UCSF Hernandez Lab), while she discussed her crosstalk plans for her future faculty position. We enjoyed many inspiring talks at the Next Generation Faculty Symposium, sponsored by Stanford, UC Berkeley, and UCSF.
November 13th, 2023: Tiffany, Beth, and Priscilla attended the Inaugural Bakar Aging Research Institute (BARI) Symposium to support the work of aging researchers at UCSF and beyond. This event was held at the glamorous de Young Museum in San Francisco.
November 9th, 2023: Congratulations to Tiffany and Reyna for their acceptances into the UCSF PROPEL program!
October 5th, 2023: We celebrated the installation of our surgical microscope from Leica Biosystems! Once the TV monitor is wall-mounted and the binoculars are installed, we will be ready to start our work on preclinical models of osteoarthritis in a way that is visually accessible way and teaching friendly.
August 30th, 2023: Bonding over baseball & bone biology, and rooting for the SF giants for the 2023 UCSF Orthopaedic Surgery Research Retreat! The Collins Lab and others enjoyed a sun-tastic summer outing after a skeletal proteomics workshop, with friends from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the Medical University of Southern California.
August 7th, 2023: Dr. Collins and Bethany at the 3rd Annual PROPEL Research Symposium, held at the UCSF Mission Bay Campus. We are proud to be part of the PROPEL Post-baccalaureate Program and wholeheartedly echo their mission to promote diversity in science by providing research experiences to those historically underrepresented and excluded.
August 1st, 2023: Happy first day in lab, Priscilla! As our first postdoc, Dr. Tjandra will help us define tissue specific responses to leptin signaling in models of OA. We are thrilled to learn from her PhD experience in systemic crosstalk and complement signaling.
July 27th, 2023: The Collins lab group is filled with wildly imaginative and creative artistic flames (ask us about our custom mugs)! We concluded our first lab retreat with pottery painting at Earthfire Arts Studio in the Inner Sunset.
Pictured (back row, L to R): Evan Sun, Bethany Andoko, Priscilla Tjandra, Dr. Kelsey Collins; (front row, L to R): Tiffany Pham, Silvia Soule, Reyna Villa
July 27th, 2023: Our very first lab retreat at Golden Gate Park, enjoying light refreshments and pizza from Arizmendi Bakery. Image courtesy of Reyna Villa, Junior Specialist and the newest addition to the Collins Lab!
Pictured (L to R): Bethany Andoko, Tiffany Pham, Dr. Kelsey Collins, Priscilla Tjandra, Evan Sun, Silvia Soule
July 24th, 2023: Gorgeous evening shot from the bridge adjacent to China Basin, with Oracle Park peeping from behind. Image courtesy of Evan, our ever-trustworthy navigation master and parking spot locator.
July 24th, 2023: Group dinner at New Belgium following the UCSF NORC Mini-Retreat, "The intersection of body composition musculoskeletal health."
Pictured (L to R): Evan Sun, Tiffany Pham, Dr. Kelsey Collins, Bethany Andoko, Priscilla Tjandra
July 17th, 2023: More Collins Lab ussies! Image courtesy of Emma, lighting extraordinaire and BeReal wiz.
Collins Lab, n=8. (Finally!)
Pictured (back row, L to R): Evan Sun, Priscilla Tjandra, Dr. Collins, Reyna Villa; (middle row, L to R): Tiffany Pham, Bethany Andoko, Silvia Soule; (front): Emma Nedley
July 17th, 2023: First (mini) group outing! Behind the scenes of the Collins Lab website photoshoot at Crissy Field. San Francisco winds: 0, Collins Lab: 1.
Pictured (back row, L to R): Emma Nedley, Evan Sun, Reyna Villa, Priscilla Tjandra; (middle row, L to R): Tiffany Pham, Silvia Soule, Bethany Andoko; (front): Dr. Collins
July 7th, 2023: Last day of our first week. We love reading papers while enjoying the spectacular views from the Regeneration Medicine Building!
Pictured (L to R): Silvia Soule, Tiffany Pham, Bethany Andoko, Evan Sun
July 3rd, 2023: First day of work in the lab! We took the UCSF shuttle to the Mission Bay campus to obtain our ID badges.
Pictured (back row, L to R): Tiffany Pham and Bethany Andoko; (front row, L to R): Silvia Soule and Evan Sun
June 29th, 2023: Kicking off the launch of the Collins Lab with our very first lab lunch at the UCSF Parnassus Heights campus! Following a tour of PH, we concluded our tour with a commemorative shot from the roof of the Regeneration Medicine Building (RMB). Image courtesy of Cristal Yee from the Alliston Lab.
Collins Lab, n=5.
Pictured (L to R): Evan Sun, Silvia Soule, Dr. Kelsey Collins, Tiffany Pham, Bethany Andoko
April 2023: Dr. Kelsey Collins, PhD, joins the faculty of the UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and UCSF Musculoskeletal Center. This marks the launch of the Laboratory for Musculoskeletal Crosstalk as well as the beginning of Dr. Collins' journey as a Principal Investigator, where she aims to investigate the molecular mechanisms of tissue crosstalk in osteoarthritis.
Collins Lab, n=1.