Dr. Gibbons maintains a large and active research laboratory focused on understanding the regulation of cancer cell invasion and metastasis by intrinsic tumor cell factors and the role of the tumor microenvironment (immune cells and extracellular matrix) in those same processes. The team has specific expertise in understanding KRAS mutant lung cancer. In their studies the team uses human samples and clinical data, cell line models and mouse models. Recently, Dr. Gibbons demonstrated that for cancer cells to escape the primary lung tumor and colonize new organs, they need to suppress the immune system, a process that is mediated in part by suppression and exhaustion of T cell activity, which is coordinated in part by the protein PD-L1. Dr. Gibbons’ translational research suggests that immunotherapy may have anti-metastatic effects and has driven the development of new clinical trials, particularly in the area of acquired resistance to immunotherapy.