Dr. B. Jill Venton is Thomas Jefferson Professor and Chair of 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
Department Chair | Department of Chemistry, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA | 2019-present |
Professor | Department of Chemistry, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA | 2016-present |
Associate Professor | Department of Chemistry, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA | 2011-2016 |
Assistant Professor | Department of Chemistry, Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA | 2005-2011 |
Associate Editor | Analytical Methods (Royal Society of Chemistry) | 2017-present |
Postdoctoral Researcher |
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Advisors: Robert Kennedy (Chemistry) and Terry Robinson (Psychology) |
2003-2005 |
Education
PhD | Chemistry (analytical) | University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC | Advisor:Mark Wightman | Dissertation: Electrochemical detection of chemical dynamics in the rat brain | 2003 |
B.S., Honors degree, summa cum laude |
Chemistry | University of Delaware, Newark, DE | Research Advisor: Murray Johnston | Undergraduate thesis: Secondary structure of oligonucleotides probed by MALDI | 1998 |
ACS Advances in Measurement Science Lectureship | 2022 |
Distinguished Researcher Award, ACS Local Section | 2020 |
President Elect, International Society of Monitoring Molecules in vivo | 2018-2022 |
Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry, Young Investigator Award | 2011 |
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar | 2010 |
American Chemical Society PROGRESS/Dreyfus Foundation Lectureship | 2008 |
Eli Lilly Young Analytical Investigator Award | 2007 |
Meade Endowment Honored Faculty | 2007-2008 |
National Science Foundation CAREER award | 2007-2012 |
NIH, NINDS, R01NS121014 | Multiplexed Chemical Methods to Understand Adenosine Neuromodulation | Multi-PI, Venton, Zhu | 600K/year, ~350K to Venton lab | 01/1/22-12/31/22 |
NIH, NIDA, R01DA052893 | An investigation of focused ultrasound to treat opioid addiction |
Multi-PI, Venton, Lynch, Legon |
629K/year, ~125K to Venton lab | 03/1/22-12/31/26 |
NIH, NIMH, R01MH085159 |
Real time measurements of neurotransmitters in Drosophila melanogaster | Venton PI | 350K year to Venton lab | 05/1/22-3/31/27 |
NIH, NINDS, R01NS125663 |
Tunable carbon Electrodes for neurotransmitter detection | Venton PI, subcontract ORNL | 550K/year, ~350K to Venton lab | 08/1/22-7/31/27 |
Owens Family | For studies of neuromodulation and nanoelectrodes | Venton PI | 100K.year | 07/1/20-06/30/23 |
Publications
h-index: 50
Citations: >9000
Publications: >100
Link to all publications at Google Scholar