Staff Profile

Position:

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Sarah Pickett's lab, part of the Mitochondrial Research Group.

Previous positions/Qualifications:

2024-2025 - Tissue Bank Coordinator, Newcastle Central Biobank, Newcastle University

2023-2024 - Postdoctoral Research Associate in iPSC derived skin model development, Reprocell Europe Ltd funded, Durham University

2020-2023 - Postdoctoral Research Associate in ageing skin model development, BBSRC/P&G funded, Durham University

2015-2019 - PhD Pluripotent stem cell differentiation, Anatomical Society studentship, Durham University

2011-2015 - BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences with Placement Year, Durham University

Research interests:

Pluripotent stem cell models, pluripotency assessment, differentiation capacity, cellular ageing, in vitro tissue model development

• Articles

  • Low E, Smith LA, Miwa S, Fielder E, Przyborski S, von Zglinicki T. Senescent Dermal Fibroblasts Decrease Stemness in Basal Keratinocytes in a Bioengineered Model of Human Full-Thickness Skin. Journal of Investigative Dermatology 2025, 145(1), 208-211.e8.
  • Hidalgo Aguilar A, Smith L, Oewns D, Quelch R, Przyborski S. Recreating Tissue Structures Representative of Teratomas In Vitro Using a Combination of 3D Cell Culture Technology and Human Embryonic Stem Cells. Bioengineering 2022, 9(5), 185.
  • Goncalves K, De Los Santos Gomez P, Costello L, Smith L, Mead H, Simpson A, Przyborski S. Investigation into the effect of skin tone modulators and exogenous stress on skin pigmentation utilizing a novel bioengineered skin equivalent. Bioengineering and Translational Medicine 2022, 8(2), e10415.
  • Smith LA, Hidalgo Aguilar A, Owens DDG, Quelch RH, Przyborski SA. Using Advanced Cell Culture Techniques to Differentiate Pluripotent Stem Cells and Recreate Tissue Structures Representative of Teratoma Xenografts. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 2021, 9, 667246.
  • Hoyle,HW, Smith,LA, Williams,RJ, Przyborski,SA. Applications of novel bioreactor technology to enhance the viability and function of cultured cells and tissues. Interface Focus 2020, 10(2).

• Book Chapters

  • De Los Santos Gomez P, Goncalves K, Maltman V, Smith L, Przyborski S. Engineering a Pigmented Skin Equivalent that is Responsive to External Stimuli. In: Thomas Biedermann and Sophie Böttcher-Haberzeth, ed. Skin Tissue Engineering: Methods and Protocols. Springer Nature, 2025.
  • Smith L, Maltman V, De Los Santos Gomez P, Goncalves K, Przyborski S. Engineering a Multilayered Skin Equivalent: The Importance of Endogenous Extracellular Matrix and Model Flexibility for Nuanced and Accurate Skin Studies. In: Thomas Biedermann and Sophie Böttcher-Haberzeth, ed. Skin Tissue Engineering: Methods and Protocols. Springer Nature, 2025.

• Review

  • Smith L, Quelch-Cliffe R, Liu F, Aguilar A, Przyborski S. Evaluating Strategies to Assess the Differentiation Potential of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells: A Review, Analysis and Call for Innovation. Stem Cell Reviews and Reports 2025, 21(1), 107-125.