Spencer Gibson

Area of Study / Keywords

Lymphedema Chronic Lymhocytic Leukemia Cell Death Signaling Autophagy Kinase signaling

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About

Dr. Spencer Gibson graduated from the Univeristy of Toronto in the Department of Clincial Biochemistry in 1997 and did a pre-doctoral fellowship at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. In 1997, he was a post-doctroal fellow at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver Colorado. He became an Assistant Professor at the Univeristy of Mantoba in 1999 where he contributed to the creation and expansion of the Manitoba Tumor Bank and served as Director of the CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute from 2012 to 2015.  He also was Director of Translational Research where he developed infrastructure that brought multi-disciplinary researchers together to impact cancer. He has over 140 peer-reviewed publications understanding cell death responses to stress and therapies. His research been awarded over 20 million dollars in funding and has been involved in research that led to changes in clinical practice in Manitoba. In 2021, Dr. Spencer B. Gibson became the inaugural Dianne and Irving  Kipnes Endowed Chair in Lymphatic Disordrs and joins the faculty at the University of Alberta int he Department of Oncology. 

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Research

The blood system has been extensively studied due in part to the wide variety of diseases involving blood such as leukemias¹. What is often less well appreciated is the blood system works in tandem with the lymphatic system to move fluids, immune cells and nutrients in the body². Alterations to the lymphatic system due to injury, genetic mutations, and cancers lead to lymphatic disorders. This chair provides a unique opportunity to develop a research program focusing on lymphatic diseases such as lymphedema. Specifically, the research program will investigate stress responses in lymphatic cells and in its microenvironment that led to cellular dysfunction and death. This research will use human cells, animal models and blood samples from lymphedema patients. As Chair, Dr. Gibson will help to drive research that will inform transformational advancements in the care of patients suffering underreported, under-recognized, and under-diagnosed medical problems in the lymphatic system such as lymphedema and leukemia.

Dr. Gibson’s research program will also focus on chronic lymphocytic leukemias which is the most common form of adult leukemia in Canada. The goal is provide insight into mechanisms of CLL progression in micoenvironments such as lymph nodes and mechanism of drug resistance to targeted therapies. Finally, we will develop treatment strategies to ovecome drug resistance in CLL.

Beyond the research program, the Endowed Chair will also build upon a network of experts across Alberta, including the collaborative relationship between the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, Alberta Lymphedema Network (ALNET), Salutaris and other dedicated partners. We will develop a CLL Prairie Consortium bewteen Alberta and Mantioba to develop translation research projects. This will create a multi-disciplinary team focused on lymphedema and CLL from basic, clinical and population sciences. Finally, this network will serve as a model for multi-disciplinary research to expand lymphedema and CLL research across Canada. 

Chen Y., Zhang Z., Henson E.S., Cuddihy A., Haigh K., Wang R., Haigh J.J., Gibson S.B.

Autophagy. 2022 June; 18 (6):1274-1296 10.1080/15548627.2021.1973338

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Chen Y., Gibson S.B.

Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2022 March; 10 10.3389/fcell.2022.823251

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Bourrier N., Landego I., Bucher O., Squires M., Streu E., Hibbert I., Whiteside T., Gibson S.B., Geirnaert M., Johnston J.B., Dawe D.E., Banerji V.

BMC CANCER. 2022 February; 22 (1) 10.1186/s12885-022-09256-2

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Chen Y., Gibson S.B.

BIOCHIMICA ET BIOPHYSICA ACTA-MOLECULAR BASIS OF DISEASE. 2021 December; 1867 (12) 10.1016/j.bbadis.2021.166265

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Martens M.D., Seshadri N., Nguyen L., Chapman D., Henson E.S., Xiang B., Falk L., Mendoza A., Rattan S., Field J.T., Kawalec P., Gibson S.B., Keijzer R., Saleem A., Hatch G.M., Doucette C.A., Karch J.M., Dolinsky V.W., Dixon I.M., West A.R., Rampitsch C., Gordon J.W.

Cell Death & Disease. 2021 November; 12 (12) 10.1038/s41419-021-04402-3

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Ishdorj G., Nugent Z., Squires M., Kost S., Banerji V., Davidson L., Katyal C.S., Marshall A., Gibson S.B., Johnston J.B.

LEUKEMIA RESEARCH. 2021 October; 109 10.1016/j.leukres.2021.106628

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Villalpando-Rodriguez G.E., Gibson S.B.

Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity. 2021 August; 2021 10.1155/2021/9912436