Frederick A. "Erick" Matsen
Professor, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center;
Affiliate Professor, Genome Sciences & Statistics, University of Washington;
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Research statement: I'm interested in developing Bayesian phylogenetics as an optimization problem, and in understanding the process by which the adaptive immune system learns to recognize foreign antigen.
Personal interests: Historically I've loved climbing, backcountry skiing and kayaking; right now I'm raising two kids.
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Duncan Ralph
Staff scientist

Research statement: I develop computational methods for inference on B cell receptor deep sequencing data, and apply these methods to data from wet lab collaborators at the Hutch and elsewhere. Recent projects include recapitulating the development of broadly-neutralizing anti-HIV antibodies, and choosing antibodies from deep sequencing data for synthesis and testing against dengue virus.
Personal interests: In town I run and gym climb; out of town I climb and ski in the mountains.
Hometown: Arcata, CA
Jared G. Galloway
Programmer

Research statement: I’m fascinated by all facets of biology. Recently, I’ve focused my energy on protein-antibody interaction studies where high throughput protocols, big data, and statistics intersect.
Personal interests: My time is primarily spent cycling, listening to podcasts of a wide variety, reading, skiing, and annoying my cat.
Hometown: Bozeman, MT
Zorian Thornton
Genome Sciences PhD student

Research statement: I am interested in studying how mutations impact the biophysical properties of antibodies and quickly evolving viral proteins using interpretable deep neural networks.
Personal interests: In my free time I enjoy watching history documentaries, blogging, making YouTube videos, baking sweets, playing and watching sports and powerlifting.
Hometown: Goochland, VA
Magdalena "Maggie" Russell
Molecular and Cellular Biology PhD student

Research statement: I’m interested in identifying and understanding genetic biases during the T cell receptor generation process, and how they lead to repertoire variability across individuals and in the context of disease.
Personal interests: I enjoy hiking, cross country and downhill skiing, baking, painting, and crocheting!
Hometown: Bozeman, MT
Hassan Nasif
Statistics PhD student

Research statement: I’m interested in developing fast and statistically rigorous algorithms for Bayesian phylogenetic inference, with a focus on variational inference and optimization.
Personal interests: I love to hike, weightlift, read science fiction, play board games, and enjoy good coffee/tea/food with friends.
Hometown: Raleigh, NC
David Rich
Programmer

Thien Tran
Undergraduate research assistant

Research statement: I’m interested in applying computer science to a variety of problems from different branches of biology.
Personal interests: I enjoy hiking, skiing, and visiting new places with my friends and family. In my free time, I love baking bagels, watching sunsets, and taking care of my plants.
Hometown: Everett, WA
Assya Trofimov
Postdoc (joint with Armita Nourmohammad and Phil Bradley)

Research statement: First trained in biochemistry, then computational biology, I will be attempting to model the relationship between an individual's genetic background and their TCR repertoire.
Personal interests: I really enjoy strategy, worker placement and resource management board games - I play every week. I also love videogames, but I’m now great at them. I am a baker - I particularly enjoy trying out new techniques.
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Chris Jennings-Shaffer
Postdoc

Research statement: While I was trained as a number theorist (you can find my articles on arxiv.org), my work has always been computational and now I focus on data science. I am interested in how mathematics applies to solving problems in biology.
Personal interests: I enjoy the occasional hike when the weather is nice, but really I like sitting at home with food and drinks. I should get a cat.
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Hugh Haddox
Project manager

Research statement: Viruses rapidly evolve. So do the immune responses that combat them. I'm interested in tying together high-throughput experimental data and biophysical models to better understand how these processes work.
Personal interests: I love playing soccer, climbing, and trail running. I also love cooking and listening to audiobooks.
Hometown: Denver, CO
Nico Courts
Postdoc

Research statement: My first loves will always be mathematics and computer science, but I am passionate about finding ways to leverage my interests into creating positive change in the world around me through creative problem solving and the application of technology.
Personal interests: I am a fan of hiking, sailing, and wandering when I am out and about in the world and video games and Chinese tea (pu'er and wulong in particular) when I am at home. Oh, and cuddling with my cat, Emmy!
Hometown: Glendora, CA
Mary Barker
Postdoc

Research statement: (This will probably change once I am there and starting work) I am interested in computational math, in both pure and applied settings. My favorite problems so far are in gerrymandering, moduli theory, and finite element exterior calculus.
Personal interests: I enjoy long hikes, playing and repairing violins, and making new food with people.
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
Jiansi Gao
Postdoc (starting Sep 2022)

Research statement: I'm interested in developing Bayesian phylogenetic methods to model the evolution of rapidly evolving pathogens, and efficient numerical algorithms to enable computationally intensive phylogenetic analyses with large datasets.
Personal interests: I enjoy reading about history and staring at maps. I like playing all sorts of sports (not very good at any of them though) and watching some of them (e.g., basketball and F1).
Hometown: Tianjin, China
Claris Winston
Undergraduate research assistant

Research statement: I'm fascinated by the various applications of computer science in several real world scenarios. I'm interested in exploring the intersection of computer science and biological sciences, and applying statistical analysis/machine learning.
Personal interests: I enjoy drawing, gymnastics, and composing music! I also love baking sweet treats and cake decorating.
Hometown: Vienna, VA
William Howard-Snyder
Undergraduate research assistant

Alyssa Pratt
SURP intern

Research statement: I’m interested in creating computational tools and algorithms that can be used to model experimental data, especially in the areas of evolutionary and molecular biology.
Personal interests: I like practicing archery, going hiking, cooking, and reading science fiction in my free time!
Hometown: Portland, OR
Mackenzie Johnson
Postdoc (starting Jan 2023)

Thanasi Bakis
Statistics PhD student (UC Irvine, with Vladimir Minin)

Student/Postdoc Alumni
Will DeWitt
Genome Sciences PhD student (joint with Kelley Harris);
Postdoc, Yun Song lab, UC Berkeley

Research statement: I’m broadly interested in computational and mathematical biology, and focus on both quantitative immunology and evolutionary genomics.
Personal interests: I enjoy playing in the snow, cooking, gazing at sunsets, photographing birds, and playing guitar and ukulele.
Hometown: Bradford, VT
Tanvi Ganapathy
High school intern 2021, 2022
