{"id":15099,"date":"2025-05-15T15:57:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T19:57:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/?post_type=directory&#038;p=15099"},"modified":"2025-06-16T10:24:52","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T14:24:52","slug":"jessica-thaxton-phd","status":"publish","type":"directory","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/directory\/jessica-thaxton-phd\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessica Thaxton, PhD, MsCR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our lab seeks to make basic mechanistic discoveries at the bench, translating these discoveries to clinical trials for patients with cancer. We study abnormal cell stress signaling, metabolism, and organelle dynamics that occur in immune cells regulated by the hostile tumor microenvironment. We repair these dysregulated processes to create novel therapies for cancer. To undertake this research, we use methods such as spectral flow cytometry, multiplex imaging, confocal imaging, RNA-sequencing, single-cell RNA-sequencing, spatial transcriptomics, Seahorse bioanalysis, metabolomics, and proteomics.\u00a0We have partnerships with head and neck cancer, melanoma, sarcoma, and metastatic bone disease oncologists.\u00a0Our students hail from a range of departments including Cell Biology &amp; Physiology, Microbiology &amp; Immunology, and Pharmacology. Projects range from basic mechanism to translational studies and are shaped by the interests of our laboratory members.\u00a0We are\u00a0passionate about exploration of the biology of immune cells in tumors\u00a0to improve therapies for patients with cancer.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15129 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-VsYrwgbs.jpg\" alt=\"Imaging across the tumor microenvironment reveals that T cells localized to hypoxic regions of tumor experience increased stress signaling that limits antitumor function.\" width=\"260\" height=\"260\" data-wp-editing=\"1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-VsYrwgbs.jpg 960w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-VsYrwgbs-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-VsYrwgbs-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-VsYrwgbs-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-VsYrwgbs-600x600.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px\" \/>Imaging across the tumor microenvironment reveals that T cells localized to hypoxic regions of tumor experience increased stress signaling that limits antitumor function. Graduate student Coral del Mar Alicea Pauneto discovered a way to inhibit the stress signaling pathway to enhance response to cancer immunotherapy. Accepted, <i>Immunity<\/i>, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15130 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-PastedGraphic-1.png\" alt=\"3-D reconstruction of T cells reveals that the tumor microenvironment enforces dysregulation of endoplasmic reticulum (green) dynamics in T cells in tumors (TIL)\" width=\"324\" height=\"142\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-PastedGraphic-1.png 530w, https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/734\/2025\/05\/Thaxton-PastedGraphic-1-300x131.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 324px) 100vw, 324px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">3-D reconstruction of T cells reveals that the tumor microenvironment enforces dysregulation of endoplasmic reticulum (green) dynamics in T cells in tumors (TIL). Graduate students Andrew Kennedy and Elizabeth Hunt in collaboration with senior scientist Genevieve Clutton identified a way to repair endoplasmic reticulum dynamics, creating a novel therapeutic target for cancer patients. <em>In preparation,<\/em> 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our lab seeks to make basic mechanistic discoveries at the bench, translating these discoveries to clinical trials for patients with cancer. We study abnormal cell stress signaling, metabolism, and organelle dynamics that occur in immune cells regulated by the hostile tumor microenvironment. We repair these dysregulated processes to create novel therapies for cancer. To undertake &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/directory\/jessica-thaxton-phd\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Jessica Thaxton, PhD, MsCR\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13070,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"layout":"","cellInformation":"","apiCallInformation":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-15099","directory","type-directory","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jessica Thaxton, PhD, MsCR - Department of Cell Biology and Physiology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/cellbiophysio\/directory\/jessica-thaxton-phd\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jessica Thaxton, PhD, MsCR - Department of Cell Biology and Physiology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our lab seeks to make basic mechanistic discoveries at the bench, translating these discoveries to clinical trials for patients with cancer. We study abnormal cell stress signaling, metabolism, and organelle dynamics that occur in immune cells regulated by the hostile tumor microenvironment. We repair these dysregulated processes to create novel therapies for cancer. 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