OHSU postdoc receives prestigious award for promising early career scientists
Alexis Gibson, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher at Oregon Health & Science University, is the recipient of a 2023 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, or HHMI, Hanna Gray Fellowship. The prestigious award recognizes talented early career scientists in the biomedical sciences.
Gibson, in the lab of Isabella Rauch, Ph.D., assistant professor of microbiology and molecular immunology in the OHSU School of Medicine, is among a cohort of 25 researchers from 18 institutions selected for the 2023 award, which is designed to give fellows the freedom to explore new scientific territory while seeking answers to challenging scientific questions.
The HHMI Hanna H. Gray Fellows Program provides each fellow with up to $1.5 million in support for up to eight years, spanning postdoctoral training through transition to an early career faculty position. The new cohort will join a close-knit community of Hanna Gray Fellows who participate in professional development, mentorship and networking with their peers and the broader HHMI community of scientists.
Understanding epithelial cell communication
As a scientist in the Rauch lab, Gibson studies the intestinal epithelium, a layer of cells lining the intestines that performs several important functions, including absorbing nutrients and serving a critical role in immune function. Epithelial cells maintain balance in the intestine in part by recognizing and responding in a very coordinated way to infection-causing antigens. They surround and expel the unwanted cells in a process called cell extrusion, which is important for maintaining health, but they can also expel beneficial cells and disrupt the balance of the intestine. Unnecessary cell extrusion plays a role in intestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, and some cancers.
It is this coordination among epithelial cells that most interests Gibson. Understanding how cells communicate to expel unwanted cells could make it possible to stop that process when it would cause damaging disruptions like IBS or colorectal cancer. Identifying the connections between IBS and colorectal cancer is one of the aims of her research.
Gibson made a significant observation in the interactions of epithelial cells with pathogens when she recognized certain lipids are responsible for triggering a response by the cells. She is now exploring whether blocking these lipids can halt unwanted activities by epithelial cells.
A gifted scientist and leader
“Recognition by HHMI is an enormous honor and well-deserved by Dr. Gibson,” Rauch said. “She is making important scientific observations in the laboratory. Her study will inform our understanding of the causes of IBS and establish new models of IBS and its progression to colorectal cancer. She is also a great mentor and leader. This award will be significant as she begins her own lab, which she is very qualified to do.”
The HHMI Hanna Gray Fellowship is not Gibson’s first significant honor. She is currently a Cancer Research Institute-Bristol Myers Squibb fellow. She was recruited to OHSU through the OHSU Fellowship for Diversity in Research, or OFDIR, a highly competitive training program designed to address the need for increased representation of minoritized races and ethnicities in sciences by supporting gifted scholars from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical sciences.
OFDIR fellows receive funding and benefits, in addition to professional development counseling, courses to ensure scientific success such as grant writing and an engaged network of scientists.
“It is fantastic for Dr. Gibson to receive this award, and it reflects the outstanding work that she has done so far, as well as the important scientific contributions she is poised to make,” said Letisha Wyatt, Ph.D., associate professor of neurology in the OHSU School of Medicine and director of Diversity in Research in OHSU Research and Innovation. “OFDIR fellows are rising stars and future scientific leaders; the program simply fills the environmental gaps and gives fellows a strong foundation so that they can reach their fullest potential — the HHMI fellowship reflects that Dr. Gibson is doing just that.”
Gibson earned her doctorate in cell and molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania, where, under the guidance of Boris Striepen, Ph.D., she studied the intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium and how its epithelial host cell responds to infection.
About the HHMI Hannah Gray Fellows Program
The program is named for Hanna Holborn Gray, former chair of the HHMI board of trustees and former president of the University of Chicago. Under Gray’s leadership, HHMI developed initiatives that foster inclusion in science education. HHMI continues to carry forward this work on college and university campuses across the United States.