Alumna Lindsay Sanford (’07 Mechanical Engineering) is a research development specialist at Baylor Scott & White Health in Temple, Texas. The company is that state’s largest not-for-profit health system.
She also has two provisional patents—one on temperature monitoring using fluorescent dyes, and the other on a mathematical method of DNA dissociation curve normalization for improved genotyping.
Sanford completed her PhD in bioengineering in fall 2013 at the University of Utah. Her thesis is titled “Fluorescence-based temperature monitoring and control for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and background removal for DNA melting.” She mixed her mechanical engineering background with molecular diagnostics to create new ways of monitoring and improving instrumentation related to PCR.
She is married to WSU alumnus Zachary L. Dwight (’06 Business Administration/MIS), who works from Texas as the scientific software manager for the Dept. of Pathology at the University of Utah Hospital/School of Medicine in Salt Lake City. They were high school sweethearts who met in their freshman year at A.C. Davis High School in Yakima.
Both are published journal authors, with Sanford focusing on molecular diagnostics technology and new instrumentation developments and Dwight on bioinformatics/computational biology. Both have also independently co-authored papers with Sanford’s PhD advisor, Carl T. Wittwer, MD/PhD. An inventor and entrepreneur, he leads the Wittwer Lab for DNA Analysis at the University of Utah and is a professor of pathology at the medical school there.
Sanford worked as an undergraduate research assistant at the former Combustion and Energy Research Laboratory in the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. After graduating, she worked as an environmental engineer, science writer, research assistant, and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Utah.
She received from Honors the S. Town Stephenson Scholar, Dean’s Merit, and M.E. and Maxine Johnson Honors Scholarship awards.
“The WSU Honors program gave me the opportunity to experience a well-rounded liberal arts education while successfully pursuing an accredited mechanical engineering degree. I found it refreshing to apply problem solving and critical thinking skills to areas outside of engineering,” says Sanford.
“While I enjoyed all of my Honors coursework, one of my fondest memories was taking Pamela Lee’s class, ‘Exploring the Art of Portraiture.’ Through her mentorship I learned how to gather, synthesize, and evaluate information. She taught me the art of writing concisely and effectively. Perhaps most importantly, I learned how to logically present research findings to maximize audience understanding.
“These skills were invaluable during my graduate work, and continue to serve me well as I work in research development.”