Abigail Pulsipher

Abigail Pulsipher, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery , Primary - Molecular Pharmaceutics , Adjunct - Otolaryngology: Head & Neck Surgery

Dr. Pulsipher received a doctoral degree in chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed a Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship in chemical glycobiology at the California Institute of Technology. Prior to joining the U, she directed the research and preclinical development of new therapeutic solutions at GlycoMira Therapeutics, aimed at improving the care, quality of life, and outcomes for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis, while also evaluating the feasibility of synthetic glycosaminoglycans as cancer supportive care agents in mitigating radiation-induced oral mucositis. During this time, she formed a strong collaborative research partnership with the Rhinology Team and aided in basic sciences investigations focused on elucidating underlying molecular mechanisms in chronic rhinosinusitis, as well as translational studies to develop minimally invasive methods to diagnose specific endotypes of chronic rhinosinusitis.

Research Interests:

- Therapeutic and drug delivery systems development for chronic rhinosinusitis and locally advanced head and neck cancers

- Diagnostic and prognostic point-of-care test development for chronic rhinosinusitis endotypes

- Integrated omics investigations to define molecular endotypes, map spatio-temporal inflammatory profiles, and identify predictive and prognostic biomarkers of clinical outcomes in chronic rhinosinusitis

- Epithelial cell dysregulation and mucosal remodeling in airway diseases

Education History

Postdoctoral Fellowship University of Utah School of Medicine
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellowship California Institute of Technology/Howard Hughes Medical Institute
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Doctoral Training University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
 PhD
Undergraduate University of Virginia
 BS
Undergraduate James Madison University

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Grewal MR, Faust C, Eljamri S, Daniels K, Stapleton AL, Simons J, Pulsipher A, Smith KA, Padia R (2026). Gender Representation on the National Otolaryngology Stage: Leadership Roles and Moderator-Panelist Trends at Recent Conferences. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg, 174(4), 989-996.
  2. Massey CJ, Tullis B, Johnson C, Oakley G, Orlandi R, Alt J, Pulsipher A, Gill A, Horel J, Smith K (2025). Characterizing air pollution exposure methodologies in rhinology: a scoping review. Int J Environ Health Res, 35(11), 3588-3603.
  3. Massey CJ, Oakley GM, Orlandi RR, Ashby S, Alt JA, Smith KA, Pulsipher A (2024). An eosinophil peroxidase activity assay predicts acute exacerbations in post-operative chronic rhinosinusitis. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol, 14(9), 1517-1520.
  4. Massey CJ, Oakley GM, Orlandi RR, Ashby S, Alt JA, Smith KA, Pulsipher A (2024). An eosinophil peroxidase activity assay predicts acute exacerbations in post-operative chronic rhinosinusitis. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol, 14(9), 1517-1520.
  5. Mahomva CR, Smith KA, Minkah PAB, Witt BL, Oakley GM, Orlandi RR, Alt JA, Pulsipher A (2024). Chemokine CCL19 and Its Receptors CCR7 and CCRL1 in Chronic Rhinosinusitis. J Inflamm Res, 17, 2991-3002.
  6. Shipman PA, Yathavan B, Gill AS, Pollard CE, Yellepeddi V, Ghandehari H, Alt JA, Pulsipher A, Smith KA (2024). Quantification of Budesonide Retained in the Sinonasal Cavity After High-Volume Saline Irrigation in Post-Operative Chronic Rhinosinusitis. Am J Rhinol Allergy, 38(3), 169-177.
  7. Smith KA, Gill AS, Pollard CE, Sumsion JS, Saffari H, Ashby S, Witt BL, Shipman PA, Gabrielsen DA, Yim MT, Levy JM, Oakley GM, Orlandi RR, Gleich GJ, Alt JA, Pulsipher A (2023). An eosinophil peroxidase activity assay accurately predicts eosinophilic chronic rhinosinusitis. J Allergy Clin Immunol, 152(2), 400-407.
  8. Yathavan B, Ellis A, Jedrzkiewicz J, Subrahmanyam N, Khurana N, Pulsipher A, Alt JA, Ghandehari H (2023). Systemic administration of budesonide in pegylated liposomes for improved efficacy in chronic rhinosinusitis. J Control Release, 360, 274-284.
  9. Khurana N, Babajanian E, McCrary H, Pulsipher A, Ghandehari H, Alt JA, Cannon RB (2023). Vascular permeability in HPV+ oropharyngeal cancers aids in fluorescent image-guided transoral robotic surgery using indocyanine green. Head Neck, 45(7), 1728-1740.
  10. Khurana N, Yathavan B, Jedrzkiewicz J, Gill AS, Pulsipher A, Alt JA, Ghandehari H (2021). Vascular permeability in chronic rhinosinusitis enhances accumulation and retention of nanoscale pegylated liposomes. Nanomedicine, 38, 102453.
  11. Khurana N, Pulsipher A, Jedrzkiewicz J, Ashby S, Pollard CE, Ghandehari H, Alt JA (2020). Inflammation-driven vascular dysregulation in chronic rhinosinusitis. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol, 11(6), 976-983.
  12. Blight BJ, Gill AS, Sumsion JS, Pollard CE, Ashby S, Oakley GM, Alt JA, Pulsipher A (2021). Cell Adhesion Molecules are Upregulated and May Drive Inflammation in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Nasal Polyposis. J Asthma Allergy, 14, 585-593.
  13. Gill AS, Pulsipher A, Sumsion JS, Oakley GM, Leclair LW, Howe H, Orlandi RR, Alt JA (2021). Transcriptional Changes in Chronic Rhinosinusitis with Asthma Favor a Type 2 Molecular Endotype Independent of Polyp Status. J Asthma Allergy, 14, 405-413.
  14. Pulsipher A, Savage JR, Kennedy TP, Gupta K, Cuiffo BG, Sonis ST, Lee WY (2021). GM-1111 reduces radiation-induced oral mucositis in mice by targeting pattern recognition receptor-mediated inflammatory signaling. PLoS One, 16(3), e0249343.
  15. Khurana N, Pulsipher A, Ghandehari H, Alt JA (2020). Meta-analysis of global and high throughput public gene array data for robust vascular gene expression discovery in chronic rhinosinusitis: Implications in controlled release. J Control Release, 330, 878-888.
  16. Kummarapurugu AB, Zheng S, Pulsipher A, Savage JR, Ma J, Rubin BK, Kennedy TP, Voynow JA (2020). Polysulfated Hyaluronan GlycoMira-1111 Inhibits Elastase and Improves Rheology in Cystic Fibrosis Sputum. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol, 64(2), 260-267.
  17. Jensen MM, Barber ZB, Khurana N, Isaacson KJ, Steinhauff D, Green B, Cappello J, Pulsipher A, Ghandehari H, Alt JA (2020). A dual-functional Embolization-Visualization System for Fluorescence image-guided Tumor Resection. Theranostics, 10(10), 4530-4543.
  18. Orb Q, Pulsipher A, Smith KA, Ashby S, Alt JA (2019). Correlation between systemic inflammatory response and quality of life in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis. Int Forum Allergy Rhinol, 9(5), 458-465.
  19. Alt JA, Lee WY, Davis BM, Savage JR, Kennedy TP, Prestwich GD, Pulsipher A (2018). A synthetic glycosaminoglycan reduces sinonasal inflammation in a murine model of chronic rhinosinusitis. PLoS One, 13(9), e0204709.
  20. Pulsipher A, Davis BM, Smith KA, Ashby S, Qin X, Firpo M, Orlandi RR, Alt JA (2018). Calgranulin C (S100A12) Is Differentially Expressed in Subtypes of Chronic Rhinosinusitis. Am J Rhinol Allergy, 32(5), 380-387.
  21. Pulsipher A, Westcott NP, Luo W, Yousaf MN (2009). Rapid in situ generation of two patterned chemoselective surface chemistries from a single hydroxy-terminated surface using controlled microfluidic oxidation. J Am Chem Soc, 131(22), 7626-32.

Review

  1. Massey CJ, Tullis B, Johnson C, Oakley G, Orlandi R, Alt J, Pulsipher A, Gill A, Horel J, Smith K (2025). Characterizing air pollution exposure methodologies in rhinology: a scoping review. [Review]. Int J Environ Health Res, 35(11), 1-16.
  2. Sumsion JS, Pulsipher A, Alt JA (2019). Differential expression and role of S100 proteins in chronic rhinosinusitis. [Review]. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol, 20(1), 14-22.
  3. Smith KA, Pulsipher A, Gabrielsen DA, Alt JA (2018). Biologics in Chronic Rhinosinusitis: An Update and Thoughts for Future Directions. [Review]. Am J Rhinol Allergy, 32(5), 412-423.

Editorial

  1. Pulsipher A, Smith KA, Orlandi RR, Massey CJ, Alt JA, Oakley GM, Ashby S (2024). Response to the editor regarding "An eosinophil peroxidase activity assay predicts acute exacerbations in post-operative chronic rhinosinusitis". Int Forum Allergy Rhinol, 14(9), 1539-1540.