Holly Gibbs

Educational Background

Research Areas: developmental and regenerative neurobiology, advanced microscopy, image processing and visualization

Dr. Holly Gibbs' research goal is to advance the understanding of how the processes of brain development and regeneration compare and contrast. From an engineering standpoint, she is interested in self-assembly and self-repair of neural systems, to inform therapeutic approaches to neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. To answer how specific molecular pathways and cellular behaviors shape and maintain brain form and function in a species with high regenerative capacity, she uses the zebrafish optic tectum, deriving from the dorsal midbrain, as a model system, which she studies with high-resolution optical microscopy and quantitative image processing and analysis. The homologous structure in mammals, the superior colliculus, integrates visual information and other environmental stimuli with motor pathways and is associated with several neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders in humans.

Faculty commitment to students award, Biomedical Engineering Society TAMU Student Chapter - 2016
Outstanding doctoral graduate student, Look College of Engineering, TAMU - 2014
Teaching as research fellowship, GTA-CIRTL, TAMU - 2013
Buck Weirus spirit award, Association of Former Students, TAMU - 2012

Gibbs, H.C., Sarasamma, S., Benavides, O.R., Green, D.G., Hart, N.A., Yeh, A.T., Maitland, K.C., Lekven, A.C. “Quantifiable Intravital Light Sheet Microscopy.” In: Heit, B. (eds) Fluorescent Microscopy, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2440, 181-196. Humana, New York, NY (2022).
Gibbs, H.C., Mota, S.M., Hart, N.A., Min, S-W, Vernino, A.O., Pritchard ,A.L., Sen, A., Vitha, S., Sarasamma, S., McIntosh, A.L., Yeh, A.T., Lekven, A.C., McCreedy, D.A., Maitland, K.C., Perez, L.M. “Navigating the light-sheet image analysis landscape: Cohesion from data acquisition to analysis.” Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 9, 2790 (2021).
Chang-Gonzalez, A.C., Gibbs, H.C., Lekven, A.C., Yeh, A.T., Hwang, W. “Building 3-dimensional model of early-stage zebrafish embryo midbrain-hindbrain boundary.” Biophysical Reports. 1(1), 100003 (2021).
Gibbs, H.C., Gonzalez, A.C., Hwang, W., Yeh, A.T., Lekven, A.C. “Midbrain-hindbrain boundary morphogenesis: at the intersection of Wnt and Fgf signaling.” Frontiers in Neuroanatomy. 11, 64 (2017).
Gibbs, H.C., Dodson, C., Bai, Y., Lekven, A.C., Yeh, A.T. “Combined lineage mapping and gene expression profiling of embryonic brain patterning using ultrashort pulse microscopy and image registration.” Journal of Biomedical Optics. 19(12), 126016 (2014).