Draft:Abigail Pulsipher

Abigail Pulsipher, PhD, is an American researcher focusing on the development of diagnostics and therapeutics for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). She currently holds a joint appointment at the University of Utah as an Assistant Professor in Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery and as a Research Assistant Professor at Molecular Pharmaceutics. Pulsipher also serves as a board member at GlycoMira Therapeutics.

Education
Pulsipher received a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Virginia. She then obtained her doctoral degree in Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, under the mentorship of Muhammad Yousaf. Following her graduation, she joined Linda Hsieh-Wilson lab at the California Institute of Technology as a post-doctoral fellow.

Career and research
During her undergraduate years, Pulsipher participated in research on separating and characterizing phosphopeptides by microfluidics electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. After graduating from the University of Virginia, she spent two years in the pharmaceutical industry working with Adenosine Therapeutics.

At the beginning of her doctoral studies, Pulsipher explored self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) modified with different chemical groups. This work evolved into the engineering of cell surfaces. In one exemplary work, Pulsipher and colleagues used liposomes to deliver ketone or oxyamine groups to different cell populations. Through the bioorthogonal chemistry reaction between the two groups, they induced stable cell-cell contacts of human mesenchymal stem cells with fibroblasts to form a 3D tissue-like structure. This research theme continued in her post-doctoral fellowship, where she further investigated cell surface glycan engineering, such as adding chondroitin sulfate glycosaminoglycans to neuronal cells for study of signaling pathway activation and growth of axons.

Afterwards, Pulsipher dedicated seven years to GlycoMira Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in the area of polysaccharide-based immune system modulators. She held multiple leadership positions in several research departments, culminating in her role as a vice president of product development. She actively participated in the development of GM-1111, a synthetic glycosaminoglycan-based drug with potential anti-inflammatory properties for sinonasal inflammations. Currently, GM-1111 is under preclinical development.

Pulsipher’s primary scientific contribution, which is also her most recent work, is basic and translational science research on chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). This involves the gene expression profiles, such as the upregulated expression of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), associated with the airway diseases. In translational aspects, Pulsipher is investigating therapeutic and diagnostic options for CRS. Exemplary works include using PEGylated liposomes as a drug delivery agent and a nasal-swab-based eosinophil peroxidase activity assay to detect eosinophilic CRS. The significance of this work is highlighted by Pulsipher’s most recent grant received from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).

Awards and honors

 * Vice President for Research (VPR) and School of Medicine (SOM) at the University of Utah Seed Grant Funding (2023)
 * Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Award (2023)
 * University of Utah Clinical and Translational Science Institute K12 Scholar (2023)
 * Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award (2016~2021, multiple grants)