In 2010, Gibson published a first author paper highlighting the effects of experimental ‘Jet Lag’ on adult neurogenesis and cognition. To explore how circadian disruptions affect the brain, Gibson used a technique called experimental jet lag where she introduced phase advances in the light:dark cycle of female hamsters, similar to phase shifts one might experience when traveling to a new time zone. She found that experimental ‘jet lag’ caused pronounced decreases in hippocampal cell proliferation and neurogenesis leading to notable deficits in learning and memory. Interestingly, although the circadian perturbations disrupted the HPA axis, the decreases in hippocampal cell proliferation and neurogenesis were not due to cortisol or stress hormones. Further, the negative effects of jet lag on brain health extend beyond the duration of the jet lag itself as hamsters show long lasting decreases in neurogenesis and hippocampal function. Her novel findings on the effects of circadian disruption on learning and memory highlight the severe implications of international travel on cognitive function. Her work was highlighted in ABC Science, the Wall Street Journal, NPR and Time Magazine. Gibson's thesis, titled "The Role of the Circadian System in Reproductive, Neural, and Immune Health" summarized her experimental findings during her graduate work to emphasize the importance of circadian biology in health and disease. After completing her graduate studies in 2011, Gibson pursued her postdoctoral work at Stanford in the lab of Michelle Monje where she studied the effects of neural activity on myelin microstructure in health and disease. While modern cancer therapies have provided hope and extended the lives of many patients, major side effects of both cranial radiation and chemotherapeutic agents include deficits in memory, attention, and concentration. Gibson sought to understand how chemotherapies alter the brain by focusing her attention to the glial cells in the brain, particularly myelin-making glial cells called oligodendrocytes since demyelinating disorder is associated with chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment. Gibson first focused her attention to probing if and how neural activity affects myelin formation in the central nervous system. In 2014, Gibson published a first author paper in "Science" showing that in fact increases in neural activity, achieved by optogenetic stimulation, result in robust proliferation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) which differentiate into oligodendrocytes and increase the thickness of the myelin sheath around neurons. Her results highlight a potential avenue with which to treat demyelinating diseases through the modulation of neural activity.