Jill Venton

Jill Venton headshot

Dr. B. Jill Venton is Thomas Jefferson Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Virginia.  She is also affiliated with the Neuroscience Graduate Program and the UVA Brain Institute.  She received her BS in Chemistry from University of Delaware (1998), her PhD in Chemistry from UNC-Chapel Hill (with Mark Wightman, 2003), and did postdoctoral research at University of Michigan (with Bob Kennedy and Terry Robinson, 2003-2005).  Dr. Venton started her career at University of Virginia in 2005, and has worked her way up the ranks from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor (2011) Full Professor (2016), Department Chair (2019), and endowed chair (2023).  Her research interests are in developing analytical chemistry tools for neuroscience research and her lab studies many neuroscience diseases, from Parkinson disease, to addiction, to stroke, and aging.  Her lab also develops carbon nanomaterial and 3D printed sensors, and is recently multiplexing fluorescent imaging and electrochemical methods for neurotransmitter detection. She has published more than 100 scientific papers, has 3 patents, and has won numerous awards.  Dr. Venton is also a passionate teacher and has developed new classes with active learning components for the undergraduate analytical chemistry curriculum.  She also has run science education workshops for elementary teachers.  At home, she has 2 children, Philip and Johanna, who keep her busy. 

Brief CV (click on link at left for full CV)

Positions

Thomas Jefferson Professor of ChemistryDepartment of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 229042024-present
Department ChairDepartment of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA2019-2025
ProfessorDepartment of Chemistry, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA2016-present
Associate ProfessorDepartment of Chemistry, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA2011-2016
Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Chemistry, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA2005-2011
EditorAnalytical Methods2024-present
Associate EditorAnalytical Methods (Royal Society of Chemistry)2017-2024
Postdoctoral ResearcherUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Advisors: Robert Kennedy (Chemistry) and Terry Robinson (Psychology)2003-2005

Education

PhDChemistry (analytical)University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NCAdvisor: Mark Wightman  Dissertation: Electrochemical detection of chemical dynamics in the rat brain2003
B.S., Honors degree, summa cum laudeChemistryUniversity of Delaware, Newark, DE Research Advisor: Murray JohnstonUndergraduate thesis: Secondary structure of oligonucleotides probed by MALDI1998
Honors and Awards   
Charles Reilley Award, Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry2027
Thomas Jefferson Award, Highest Faculty Honor at University of Virginia2026
ACS Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship2022
Distinguished Researcher Award, ACS Local Section2020
President Elect, International Society of Monitoring Molecules in vivo2018-2022
Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, Young Investigator Award2011
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar2010
American Chemical Society PROGRESS/Dreyfus Foundation Lectureship2008
Eli Lilly Young Analytical Investigator Award2007
Meade Endowment Honored Faculty2007-2008
National Science Foundation CAREER award2007-2012

Current Grants and Funding

NIH, NINDS, R01NS121014Multiplexed Chemical Methods to Understand Adenosine NeuromodulationMulti-PI, Venton, Zhu600K/year, ~350K to Venton lab01/1/22-12/31/22
NIH, NIDA, R01DA052893An investigation of focused ultrasound to treat opioid addictionMulti-PI, Venton, Lynch629K/year, ~125K to Venton lab03/1/22-12/31/26
NIH, NIMH, R01MH085159Real time measurements of neurotransmitters in Drosophila melanogasterVenton PI350K year to Venton lab05/1/22-3/31/27
NIH, NINDS, R01NS125663Tunable carbon Electrodes for neurotransmitter detectionVenton PI, subcontract ORNL550K/year, ~350K to Venton lab08/1/22-7/31/27
Owens FamilyFor studies of neuromodulation and nanoelectrodesVenton PI100K.year07/1/20-06/30/23

Publications

h-index: 63
Citations: >14,000
Publications: >140
Link to all publications at Google Scholar

 

 

Analytical Methods