Alumna shares cross-disciplinary research experience in bioengineering and cardiothoracic surgery
by Roxanna Van Norman
During her first year as a doctorate student at Stanford, Lyndsay (Stapleton) Smith, PhD, discovered she was interested in exploring ways to prevent cardiac adhesion formation following heart surgery. For her, this was the perfect blend of using biomaterials in a surgical setting that could impact the health and healing process in patients.
"I was looking for a translationally-focused, clinically-driven research project that could help patients directly," said Smith, who had received her undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from the University of New Mexico. She knew she wanted to concentrate her graduate studies in bioengineering with a clinical and translational research focus in cardiothoracic surgery when she came to Stanford.
Smith was keen on the interdisciplinary curriculum at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, where she worked under the mentorship of Joseph Woo, MD, as a graduate research fellow. She also worked in the laboratory of Eric Appel, PhD, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering, who served as her other co-advisor.
"I think my training in the cardiothoracic surgery department, where actual surgeons and physicians are operating and seeing patients, helped me understand the bridge between the bench and the bedside."
With two advisors from two different departments, Smith saw this as an opportunity to conduct cross-disciplinary work between the fields of bioengineering, material science, and cardiothoracic surgery.
"I felt bridging these disciplines together would enable a cool, translational PhD thesis that could potentially go from the bench to the bedside," said Smith. As an active member of both labs for five years, she explored how biomaterials could prevent postoperative adhesions and improve other cardiovascular interventions.
In one of her projects, Smith and her team looked at a specific biomaterial as an effective adhesion barrier in cardiothoracic surgeries. "We were using a supramolecular hydrogel to prevent adhesion formation in animals following surgery, specifically cardiac surgery," said Smith.
In the study, the team induced adhesions with a rodent myocardial infarction model. They then used the supramolecular hydrogel to prevent the adhesions from forming, explained Smith, and later investigated the hydrogel adhesion barrier in a clinically-relevant sheep cardiac bypass model.
This was the first time the lab had conducted a sheep cardiac bypass model and required a substantial team effort. The cardiac bypass model served as a proof-of-concept study for using a hydrogel adhesion barrier in heart surgery, said Smith. Findings from this study were published in Naturel Biomedical Engineering.
Smith came to Stanford with funding from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship that funded her first three years, and later received the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship and Stanford Bio-X Graduate Fellowship to support her last two years. The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery also provided her with professional development funding to participate in academic campus programs and travel to conferences.
"Dr. Woo was always extremely supportive with providing funding and opportunities for me to participate in professional development activities like the Stanford Ignite Program at the Graduate School of Business," Smith said. Through the Stanford Ignite Program and other business-oriented campus programs, she realized she was interested in pursuing a career in the industry sector, where she could work in a translational role and be more closely involved in bringing transformative therapies to patients.
"I'm thankful to Dr. Woo, who fully supported my scientific training and professional development," said Smith. "When I told him that I was interested in pursuing the business side of biotech, he immediately connected me with biotech consultants in his network and supported my desire to participate in an internship during my graduate training."
Smith did an internship at a biotech company focused on providing treatments for rare, genetic diseases. She graduated and received her PhD in Bioengineering from Stanford in 2020 and obtained a full-time role at that same company.
She currently works as a senior manager of strategy and operations at Calcilytix Therapeutics, an affiliate of BridgeBio, working to develop a targeted therapy of disorders of calcium homeostasis.
"I think my training in the cardiothoracic surgery department, where actual surgeons and physicians are operating and seeing patients, helped me understand the bridge between the bench and the bedside," said Smith. "Gathering the perspective of the scientists, engineers, physicians, and patients is crucial to develop well-designed, transformative solutions, and the cross-disciplinary exposure that I got from the cardiothoracic surgery department has helped frame the way I approach my current work and other therapeutic interventions."