Drake Smith

Drake Smith has worked in the biotechnology field since 2009. Drake began their career as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Laboratory of Dr. Joanie Hevel at Utah State University (2009). Drake then moved on to Graduate Student Researcher in the Laboratory of Dr. Lili Yang at University of California - Los Angeles (2014). In 2017, Drake began working as a Research Scientist at Kite Pharma, where they were responsible for generating engineered universal T-cell products derived from pluripotent stem cells or healthy-donor T-cells. Drake'sresponsibilities included culture and engineering of iPS cells with lentiviral vectors, gene editing with nucleases including CRISPR/Cas9 and ZFNs, in vitro differentiation of stem cells to T-cells, screening and evaluation of immunomodulatory elements, cytotoxicity assays, and project management. Most recently, Drake began working as a Senior Scientist at Appia Bio in 2020.

Drake Smith attended Utah State University from 2009 to 2013, where they earned a Bachelor's Degree (B.S.) in Biochemistry with a Minor in Biology. Drake then attended the University of California - Los Angeles from 2013 to 2017, where they earned a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Molecular Biology.