RESEARCH INTERESTS
Gillie has always been fascinated by the prospect of using bioengineering as a platform for translating groundbreaking discoveries from biology and engineering into novel medical solutions. Throughout her PhD, Gillie aspired to develop biomaterial therapies for sustained drug delivery with the goal of improving the quality of healthcare around the world. by decreasing the number and frequency of doses needed, increasing the stability of drugs for easier and more energy efficient storage, and simplifying therapeutic regimens. Gillie’s main PhD project focused on the development of a novel class of injectable hydrogel materials for sustained delivery of vaccine cargo. There has been a recent spike in interest in understanding how the kinetics of vaccine delivery can positively influence the humoral immune response prompting Irvine and Crotty to conclude that “less cumbersome slow delivery immunization technologies are worthy of further development, including [technologies] that make antigen available over time...” (Cirelli et al., Cell, 2019, 177, 1153-1171). Gillie’s hydrogels demonstrated the ability to prolong vaccine exposure over user-defined timeframes stretching from days to months and thereby driving potent and durable humoral immune responses with greater than 1000-fold increase in antibody affinity maturation compared to the exact same vaccine delivered in a standard bolus. After completing her PhD, Gillie began working as an Associate Scientist in the Preclinical and Translational PKPD department at Genentech.
EDUCATION
PhD, Bioengineering, Stanford University - June 2020
BS, Bioengineering, UC San Diego - June 2015
HONORS, AWARDS, and SCHOLARSHIPS
Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation, 2016-2019
Clark BioE Fellowship, Stanford University, 2015-2016 (A merit-based fellowship program)
Award for Excellence in Leadership and Service, Department of Bioengineering, UCSD, 2015
C. William Hall Scholarship, Society for Biomaterials, 2014
Gordon Scholarship, UCSD, 2013-2015 (Engineering leadership program for aspiring technical leaders)
Regents Scholarship, University of California, 2011-2015 (The most prestigious academic scholarship awarded in the UC system)
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine, UCSD, Apr 2012 - Aug 2015
Research Advisor: Prof. Karen Christman
Gillie worked to create a decellularized skeletal muscle matrix hydrogel (SkECM) that, in conjunction with fibroblasts, could provide exogenous myoblasts with the necessary cues to improve their survival after cell delivery into ischemic tissue. Results indicate that the SkECM coupled with fibroblasts has the potential to create a suitable microenvironment for in vivo myoblast delivery for an improved peripheral artery disease therapy.
Department of Bioengineering, UCSD, May 2014 - Jun 2015
Research Advisor: Prof. Shyni Varghese
With a team of five other bioengineering undergraduates, Gillie worked towards creating an in vitro model of a human lung that could be used for drug testing. This project was part of a larger goal to design a "human on a chip".
Amgen Scholars Program, UC Berkeley, Jun 2014 - Aug 2014
Research Advisor: Prof. Niren Murthy
Gillie worked on a project to increase the precision of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing tool by reducing nonspecific cleavage. She investigated the use of a competitive inhibitor to prevent the off-target sites from binding to the Cas9-sgRNA complex while still ensuring efficient target-site cleavage.
ABOUT
Gillie grew up in the bay area, surrounded by redwood forests, beautiful beaches, and a growing tech industry. She left briefly to complete her BS in Bioengineering at UC San Diego, but came right back to pursue her PhD in Bioengineering at Stanford University. When she isn't in the lab, you will find her looking for new restaurants to try out, planning a camping trip to a local national park, or attempting a new art project from pinterest.