Jaye Gardiner, PhD

Though my interests appear disparate, every activity I participate in is a step towards achieving my long-term goal of becoming an independent investigator and educator with a research program that: 1) provides better treatment options for patients, 2) studies how viral infections alter the extracellular environment and how these changes lead to cancer development (especially the rare pancreatic cancer), and 3) integrates science communication to enrich the experience of my students and increase public access to scientific research (especially underrepresented youth).

Research

Starting my academic aspirations under the tutelage of Dr. Nathan Sherer, for my graduate work I developed a two-color, long term, live-cell imaging platform to study the HIV virological synapse (VS). VSs are specialized cell-cell contacts that allow viruses to spread directly between infected and uninfected cells; reducing the distance and time required to infect a new cell. Mediated by the viral Envelope protein (Env), my work investigated how Env orchestrated the formation, stability, and turnover of the VS and how this alters cell-cell interactions (Journal of Virology 2016). Through collaborations, I was also able to explore how related viruses can have differential kinetics in their infections (Journal of Virology 2017) and exploit the most niche host biology (PNAS 2019). However, while observing how viral infection drastically changed cellular behaviors in my dissertation, my thesis committee broadened my intellectual framework by challenging me to consider how these behavioral changes may magnify the impact on diseases as cells modulate the extracellular matrix (ECM) for long distance intercellular communication (Royal Society of Chemistry 2020, Advances in Cancer Research 2022 submitted).

This expanded thinking spurred me to leave the world of virology and dive head first into stromal biology, using pancreatic cancer’s tumor microenvironment (TME) as a model system (Scientific Reports 2021, Cancer Research Communication submitted). Now under the guidance of Dr. Edna Cukierman, my initial postdoctoral studies work to understand how fibroblasts communicate within the TME via the pathological expression of the neuronal protein Netrin G1 (NetG1) and the complex signaling cascades surrounding it (manuscript in preparation). I joined Dr. Cukierman’s lab because as an independent investigator, I wish to combine my pre- and postdoctoral training to investigate how viral infections alter cell-matrix communication and how this may set the stage for rare disease pathogenesis. I believe that the cellular environment can have substantial contributions to disease progression and that this can extend to the field of virology.

As Dr. Cukierman has a cross-disciplinary background and mindset as well, she has continued to foster my curiosity and supported my desire to develop my project where my interests lie regardless of where my formal training may be. Thus, when I discovered that the BAF family of chromatin remodelers may be regulated by the ECM and began veering my research towards epigenetics, I took this as an opportunity to intimately understand what drives fibroblast activation (which is necessary for fibrotic ECM deposition) and integrate these skills for a unique independent perspective. This direction is the final focus of my postdoctoral training and form my Young Investigator Draft proposal. Receipt of this award will allow me to establish a solid foundation of research to launch my future lab and continue my dedication to rare disease research.

Science Communication & STEM Education

I am deeply committed to improving the culture of science, with an emphasis on improving student access and exposure to STEM. In addition to mentoring historically marginalized groups like myself, I have worked towards this goal via the development or revamping of a number of initiatives focusing on science communication and STEM education. Effective science communication is pertinent not only amongst colleagues for the dissemination of research findings but also to engage the public with scientific research and students with STEM curricula. Thus, early in my graduate career, I jumped at the opportunity to develop and teach a new undergraduate course as a HHMI teaching fellow, using drawing as a tool to increase experimental understanding. Shortly thereafter, I co-founded the science comic initiative, JKX Comics, to increase public access to research and highlight the diversity of scientists that exist within STEMa. My format of science communication largely focuses on using visuals such as comics and trading cards as research shows they can help distill complex information, are more memorable, and can show the human side of science. Collectively, this allows students to see scientists who look like themselves and in turn visualize themselves in these careers; all of which is imperative to increasing participation of historically marginalized individuals within STEM. I look forward to running my own laboratory and establishing the inclusive environments needed to have trainees from all backgrounds thrive.