Much like learning to write with a pencil, novices in the lab can struggle to utilize a pipette and other instruments. 

Winter Philibert, a doctoral student in UI’s department of Biological Engineering, said she quickly learned to wield the instrument as a child in her father’s lab. 

“Sometimes it was a lot of work and critical thinking, but it definitely gave me, as a researcher, a really good idea of expectations in the lab,” she said. “I felt like I was already coming into college with the knowledge on how to hold a pencil.”

Now a doctoral student, Philibert researches how properties of mucus in the lungs affect the ability to fight off infections. 

She also studies how mucus gets stuck in the airways in diseases such asthma, cystic fibrosis — a genetic condition that causes the body to produce thick mucus — and primary ciliary dyskinesia, or PCD, which prevents the clearing of mucus from the lungs. 

Winter Philibert hopes to use this knowledge to understand how drug treatments or medical devices could help patients with these diseases and infections breathe better. 

Winter Philibert developed an air-liquid interface, a lab setup where airway cells are grown with one side in liquid and one side exposed to air so they behave like real lungs. She grows patient cells outside the body and studies how they transport mucus, which could be used to screen drugs on an individual level. 

In the same lab, Winter Philibert tracks pigs with the human versions of cystic fibrosis, or CF,  and PCD. She gives the pigs with cystic fibrosis drugs such as ivacaftor to analyze improvements from cystic fibrosis while also observing any side effects.

“We’re trying to prove that they’re safe and effective and that maybe even mothers in utero should be receiving them if they know they have a child with CF,” she said. “This will help their lungs not be so damaged by the time they are two.”

Other staff members in the lab perform DNA editing in order to treat PCD, a rare disease which discoordinates cilia, hair-like structures that beat in a coordinated wave to push mucus out the lungs when necessary.  

Winter Philibert has been named a 2026 Dare to Discover honoree and a three time finalist in the UI Graduate College’s Three-Minute Thesis Competition, a space for graduate students to present their original research in general terms for a nonspecialist audience.

Though she is decorated for her lung research now, her academic pathway was not always so clear. Winter Philibert initially wished to be a veterinarian, enrolling at Iowa State for pre-vet school. 

“I don’t like seeing sick animals, I like helping sick animals. And unfortunately, part of helping them is seeing them sick,” she said. “I remember calling my dad my junior year and I was like, I don’t want to do this. I hate this. And so he got me involved in his company.”

Her father’s company was Behavioral Diagnostics, which was developing ways to detect lung cancer in early stages. Winter Philibert soon found the whole respiratory system to be a fascinating field. 

“You don’t think about it, but every single breath you take, there’s bacteria in it,” she said. “There’s dust, there’s pollen and your lungs have to clean that. Otherwise you would just get infected. I thought that it was really cool that nature had designed this  elaborate system to protect your lungs.”

Robert Philibert, Winter’s father and a psychiatrist at UIHC, said he was far from surprised when Winter made the switch to lung research. 

“Treating the patient will definitely feed the body, you’ll always have a job, but many people find that a very bland existence,” he said. “Being in research allows you to seek that which feeds the soul. You can live in the future or live in a more idealistic world.”

Robert Philibert said the UI has been a great attractor for Winter, pulling her back from all the places she’s been to such as Germany, Belgium, Kentucky, and Ames. 

“It’s kind of interesting that the long journey had brought her probably about 150 yards from the daycare she started in when she was in Iowa City,” he said. 

Winter Philibert still visits her fathers lab, only a building over, to run her research by him.

“It’s nice, I have an in-house support system,” she said. 

Mahmoud Abou Alaiwa, Winter Philibert’s lab mentor and a pulmonologist — a doctor who specializes in the respiratory system — at UIHC, said she brings a unique combination of expertise in biology from her undergraduate studies, along with knowledge of materials science and the mechanical systems of the lungs. 

“Having this background brought a real and distinctive perspective to our group,” he said. “I think this perspective is what shaped her growth as a scientist. Suddenly, she started asking questions that other researchers and her students did not really think to ask.”

Abou Alaiwa said that lung research is increasingly moving toward approaches that require a strong understanding of biophysics, engineering, and biology, which gives Winter a strong advantage in the field. 

“Even if she doesn’t continue in the academic world, she will be successful,” he said. “Her ability to approach those tough questions without any fear, I think this is a characteristic of a successful scientist.”

Winter Philibert said that in the meantime, she hopes her research will help advance the system of personalized medicine, which tailors medical treatment according to a patient’s unique genetic make up and lifestyle. 

“I hope that patients with PCD and patients with CF and really anybody with a lung injury have some confidence in the fact that we are continuing to push forward in trying to help them breathe a little bit easier,” she said.