[3] Sanford was born July 19, 1915, in Chicago, Illinois, to parents Alta Rache and William James Koontz.

Following her time as an instructor, Sanford joined Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore, Maryland as assistant director of its science program.

[5][6] Sanford began her career as a research scientist as part of the tissue culture section of the National Cancer Institute's Laboratory of Biology.

It did not take her long to make an impact, as almost immediately after joining she made her largest discovery involving a method of cloning mammalian cancer cells in vitro.

Building on this idea in the 90s, she created a test that could differentiate people with a genetic predisposition for cancer from those with Alzheimer's disease.

[2] After a 49-year career with the NCI, Stanford officially retired in December 1995, but stayed one extra year to complete her research.

[2] Prior to her discovery, tissue cultures had to be composed of multiple and various human body cells in order for them to survive and grow.

Her research targeted isolated mammalian cells in vitro and finding ways to trigger malignant transformations and replication.

Sanford developed micropipettes where single cells could be picked up and isolated from under the microscope and placed in a detailed microenvironment, where diffusion of cellular products was restricted to inside a small closed culture.

[1][3] Later in her career Sanford developed a cytogenetic assay test that could identify people with predispositions for Alzheimer's Disease and cancer.

[9] In 1954, seven years after joining the NCI, Sanford was recognized with Ross Harrison Fellowship Award for her method of cloning mammalian cells.