Bishop moved to University of Michigan as a graduate student, working in cellular biology with Joseph Glorioso.
After completing her PhD Bishop was appointed as a postdoctoral fellow to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she worked on the mechanism of B lymphocyte activation and the structure-function relationships within B cell signalling receptors.
Bishop studies the molecular mechanisms that underlie lymphocyte regulation and activation by members of the TNF receptor superfamily.
Bishop believes that B lymphocytes could be used for immunotherapeutic cancer treatment, whereby B-cells can injected, become activated in vitro and serve as antigen-presenting cells.
Alongside her scientific research, Bishop has spoken about the environment for women and other minoritized groups within academic science.