Vascular Celebrates New Biobank with Baszucki Research Day

September 20, 2023

Stanford’s Division of Vascular Surgery celebrated the opening of its new Baszucki Biobank with a research symposium.

“The generosity of the Baszucki family and their sincere interest in supporting research and patient care inspires us all,” said Division Chair Dr. Jason Lee. “Building the vascular surgery BioBank is just the beginning of a long-term project to better study prognosis, prevention, and precision care for vascular diseases.”

The Baszucki Biobank had its soft opening about a year ago. According to Lab Manager Dipti Tripathi, they have collected and catalogued more than 140 specimens so far.

Members of the Baszucki Family tour the Biobank with Dr. Nazish Sayed.

Stanford Vascular Surgeons Drs. Derek Klarin, Nazish Sayed, and Jason Lee with members of the Baszucki Family and Visiting Professor Dr. Scott Damrauer in the Baszucki Biobank.

“We have purchased a -80-degree refrigerator for storing the blood and tissue samples and a 10X machine for doing genomics studies on the samples as well as many chemicals and reagents for the Biobank,” said Tripathi.

By collecting the tissue proactively, the team hopes to expedite future research to better understand of the causes of various vascular diseases.

“The inaugural Baszucki Research Day and Visiting Professorship cements the collaboration between the Baszucki family and the Department of Surgery,” said Lee.

Vascular Surgery faculty and trainees along with members of the Baszucki Family and Visiting Professor Dr. Scott Damrauer gather for the research symposium.

Vascular Surgery Trainees and Faculty with Visiting Professor Dr. Scott Damrauer

The Baszucki Research Day began early Monday, September 18th with a lecture from visiting professor Dr. Scott Damrauer.

“Scott Damrauer, MD embodies translational research in his interest in caring for patients with aneurysm disease, and we hope to learn a lot from the exchange!” said Lee.

Damrauer is an associate professor of surgery and genetics at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on understanding the genetics of heart and vascular disease at the population scale. Following his talk, “All Aortic Aneurysms Are Not Equal: Lessons from the Genetics of Thoracic and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms,” the audience heard from members of Stanford’s vascular and cardiovascular community.

“Having our experienced faculty, post-doctoral scholars, and up and coming trainees present their research to our community will hopefully inspire future collaborations and discoveries in vascular surgery and cardiovascular health,” said Lee.

The event officially closed on Tuesday morning at Department Grand Rounds where Dramrauer presented “Precision Medicine and the Surgeon: Where are we going and are we there yet?”

Media Contact

Rachel Baker
Rachel Baker
Director of Communications

Bio

As the Director of Communications for Stanford Surgery, Rachel Baker tells the stories of her department's faculty, staff, and trainees. With the help of an amazing team of content creators, she produces and curates original articles, photos, videos, graphics, and podcasts. She works with each division, center, program, and lab within her purview to define their audience and reach their goals while maintaining a consistent brand voice. She also offers both 1:1 and group education on a variety of topics including media training, using social media to advantage, and presentation refinement. Rachel holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism with a focus on photography from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Maryland.

About Stanford Surgery

The Stanford University Department of Surgery is dedicated to inventing the future of surgical care through:

• pioneering cutting-edge research, 
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