Dr. Melody Smith received her B.S. at Vanderbilt University, and she received her MD with Distinction in Research from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. She also completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University Texas Southwestern. She subsequently moved to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) to complete her fellowship in Hematology & Medical Oncology. She joined the faculty at MSK in 2015 as an Instructor of Medicine on the Adult Bone Marrow Transplant Service, and she was promoted to Assistant Member Level 1 in 2017. During her time as junior faculty at MSK, she obtained a Master of Science from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences in Clinical & Translational Investigation. As of September 2021, she joined the faculty at Stanford University as an Assistant Professor on the BMT-CT Service in the Department of Medicine where she established her independent lab. Her research focuses on strategies to develop cellular immunotherapy from allogeneic as opposed to autologous sources (Ghosh A* and Smith M* et al. Nat Med 2017; * denotes co-first authorship). She also investigates the regulatory mechanisms for the impact of the intestinal microbiome on CAR-T cell outcomes (Smith M. et al. Nat Med 2022). Dr. Smith has received funding from several foundations including, the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation, Be the Match Amy Strelzer Manasevit Research Program, and the V Foundation.

Zhenyu’s research focuses on developing new immunotherapies to help patients. While completing her Ph.D. at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, she conducted research on CAR-T therapy for B-cell and T-cell malignancies. Some of her findings have benefitted patients in clinical trials and she hopes to help more patients by further investigating off-the-shelf immunotherapies in the Smith Lab.

Jiayi joined the Smith lab in September 2022 after receiving her Ph.D. from Sun Yat-sen University. During her graduate training, she studied the heterogeneity and functions of hematopoietic stem cells and their niche component. While studying the immune functions of megakaryocytes, she fell in love with immune cells, especially CAR-T cells. Now in the Smith lab, Jiayi is studying how gut microbiota and microbiome-derived metabolites facilitate CAR-T cell functions.

While completing her B.S. in Biotechnology at UC Davis, Nadia worked in the biotechnology section of the California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory. Here, she provided diagnostic testing of animals throughout the nation to safeguard the state’s public health and maintain the food supply. Her interests include immunology and molecular biology–specifically how novel molecular techniques can be used to improve cell function. She is excited to learn more about immunology and how altering the genetic makeup of T cells can lead to cancer treatment. In the lab, she helps investigate off-the-shelf CAR-T cell immunotherapies.

Sarah joined the Smith lab in October 2022 after receiving her BA in Public Health Policy from Princeton University. Prior to joining the lab, Sarah was working in a biotechnology company focusing on non-invasive testing for post-transplant rejection as well as relapse following HSCT in leukemia patients. In the Smith Lab, Sarah’s main role consists of coordinating the banking of clinical human research samples for downstream processing in order to explore the relationship of the gut microbiome on the immunomodulation of CAR-T cell therapy. As a pre-med, Sarah hopes to return to academic medicine following medical school to focus on research related to oncology and autoimmunity while helping mentor the next generation of physicians and scientists. Outside of the lab, Sarah enjoys cooking, kickboxing, nature outings, and spending time with her cats.

Taylor earned her B.S. in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from UC Santa Cruz. She later worked in quality control at Stanford Medicine’s Laboratory for Cell & Gene Medicine (LCGM), where she assessed the safety and efficacy of CAR T cell therapies for clinical trials. Currently, she is investigating strategies to enhance the efficacy of CAR T cell therapy following allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) and supporting research into how the intestinal microbiome influences CAR T cell activity.

Maria received her B.S. in Microbiology from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and her M.Sc. in Molecular Medicine from Trinity College Dublin. From 2020 to 2024, she completed her Ph.D. in Prof. Mark Webber’s group at the Quadram Institute, focusing on investigating the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance to prevent and control major bacterial pathogens that cause hospital-acquired infections. Maria joined the Smith lab in October 2024, where she will explore the impact of the intestinal microbiome on CAR-T cell activity.