Lay is interested in researching the immune system to learn how to effectively harness it for the development of new medicines and treatments. As an undergraduate, she studied human neutrophil phagocytic spreading on pathogenic surfaces, which introduced me to the field of immunology. Then she worked as a research specialist at Emory University, where she studied how motor neurons in songbirds communicate with each other and assembled electrode arrays. Afterwards, she worked as a medical device engineer where she helped develop implantable devices to treat central nervous system disorders. She has a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.