Congrats to Tyler Gibson for receiving a 2023 Raymond L. Erikson Exceptional Thesis Award from the CMB Graduate Program!
This annual award honors CMB students who have written and defended an exceptional thesis. A fund supporting the award was created by family and friends in honor of Dr. Erikson who was the second student to graduate from CMB. During his career, he made many important discoveries, including the identification of the first oncogene v-Src. Tyler and Megan will each receive $1500 as well as a plaque, and their names will be added to a plaque that hangs in the Bock Penthouse.
Tyler carried out his thesis research with Dr. Melissa Harrison in the Department of Biomolecular Chemistry. His thesis is titled “Defining properties regulating pioneer factor binding and function”. The prize is awarded to Tyler for broadening our understanding of pioneer factors known to steer cellular differentiation in the fertilized egg. Using the earliest developmental chromatin specifications in Drosophila, he discovered a nuanced explanation of the regulation of pioneer factor binding and activity, testing and modeling these reactions in a cell culture model. The committee lauded Tyler for his scientific insight, intellectual leadership, and cutting-edge technical expertise at both bench and computer, which resulted in an exceptional body of work that will have a durable impact on the scientific community.
This is a great honor for Tyler and the Harrison lab. Congratulations!