Alison Scott, PhD
Dr. Alison Scott, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis where she focuses on host-directed therapies for infectious diseases. Alison earned her undergraduate degree in Analytical Biochemistry at Eastern Michigan University. Later, she completed her graduate studies in Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Ernst where she defined new pathological mechanisms of bacterial infection using image-driven methods. Her post-doctoral work in Dr. Dave Goodlett’s laboratory focused on method development and data analysis tools for mass spectrometry imaging of the host-pathogen interface.
Her current work focuses on the dynamic lipid response during inflammation - a poorly understood component of many pathologic states. Using a combination of advanced lipidomic and metabolomic mapping techniques by mass spectrometry imaging her laboratory is working to understanding disease mechanisms to identify novel, host-directed therapeutic targets. Dr. Scott’s previous work defined a lethal role for lipids during infection with a TLR4-stealth pathogen. She is currently working to extend these findings into new model systems including multiple pulmonary infection models and sterile inflammation models. Finally, her laboratory is testing bespoke lipids to modify the innate immune response in a model of neurodegeneration linked to sterile inflammation.