Background
Dr. Hayley Ford is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Brigham Young University. She earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from BYU cum laude. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was a member of the Love Lab. Her doctoral research focused on biochemical engineering, genetic and cellular engineering, and bioprocess engineering. As a part of this work, she engineered the yeast, Komagataella phaffii, to improve the production and secretion of recombinant cancer therapeutics and developed bioreactor processes for improved monoclonal antibody production.
Cancer Research
At BYU, Dr. Ford leads the Ford Lab, which develops nontraditional fungal systems for recombinant protein manufacturing. The lab is working to address a foundational challenge in cancer therapeutics: producing complex protein medicines, including monoclonal antibodies, efficiently, reliably, and cost-effectively. Dr. Ford and her students use genetic and cellular engineering tools to modify fungal hosts in ways designed to improve the production, secretion, and quality of protein-based cancer therapeutics. By developing flexible microbial platforms for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, the lab hopes to expand global access to cancer therapies.
Publications
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=XNxO4LMAAAAJ&hl=en