Aishani Aatresh, Computational Immunoengineering Affiliate at Distributed Bio.
Aishani Aatresh works at Distributed Bio developing computationally-guided immunoengineering methods to enable a new generation of monoclonal antibody discovery. She has been passionate about immunology from a young age because of her severe food allergies and is deeply interested in genetics and computer science. A big proponent of scientific advocacy and applications on an interdisciplinary scale, Aishani spoke about her allergies at a San Francisco TEDx conference in 2017. She also writes for SynBioBeta and previously ran a medical column as an editor of her school newspaper. She is the lead director of LancerHacks, a hackathon in its third year focused on the multidisciplinary nature of computer science, and runs an after-school YMCA program to foster awareness, understanding, and dialogue particularly about present-day issues in science at the elementary school level. Previously, Aishani has conducted research on the impact of genetics on allergies and the relative influences of genetic and environmental factors on obesity and interned in lab operations with Driver, a former technology platform company for cancer patients. She enjoys being outdoors, playing a variety of sports and music, directing short films, and watching late-night comedy.