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Connor D

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at Stanford University

Expertise

Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Entrepreneurship

Bio

I am a PhD student in Genetics at Stanford. I graduated from MIT with a degree in Computer Science and Molecular Biology, where I played piano in the Chamber Music Society and served as president of the Debate Team. After college and before starting my PhD, I co-founded Reverie Labs, a machine learning-driven biotech company backed by Y Combinator, and was also a Data Insights Engineer at Flatiron Health.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Polygenic risk score for Alzheimer's disease

Using data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS), the student will apply computational and statistical techniques to construct a genetic model for Alzheimer's disease risk. The project could serve as the basis for submission to a regional science fair or research competition.

Healthcare startup business plan and pitch deck

The student will formulate an idea for a startup company based in healthcare or biotechnology and will create a "game plan" for pitching the company to potential stakeholders and investors. The project could serve as the basis for submission to a startup pitch competition.

Coding skills

Python

Teaching experience

I served as a tutor at the Research Science Institute in 2016; taught classes on electricity & magnetism, cryptocurrencies, applied probability, and gene editing to high school students at MIT and Stanford; served as a teaching assistant for a course called "Computational Biology: Genomes, Networks, Evolution" at MIT; and co-founded Science Olympiad at MIT, a high school science competition reaching over 1,000 students annually.

Credentials

Work experience

Reverie Labs (2017 - 2018)
Co-Founder
Flatiron Health (2018 - 2019)
Data Insights Engineer

Education

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
BS Bachelor of Science (2017)
Computer Science and Molecular Biology
Stanford University
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Genetics

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