I'm an data scientist, AI/ML researcher, and creative. I started my career in biotech at Ginkgo Bioworks, where I trained models to detect traces of bioengineering. I then moved to LifeMine Therapeutics, where I developed the AI/ML pipeline to detect drugs from fungal genomic sequences. I piloted the development of LifeMine's first fungal foundation model (patent pending), leading to a research collaboration with Microsoft Research.

I graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Math from Wellesley College. My master's thesis while at Harvard was on Approximate Bayesian Computation for Parameter Inference and Model Selection in Mechanistic Network Models, advised by J.P. Onnela.

In my free time, I love exploring fashion and craft, particularly French Beading. Relatedly, I love applications of AI that expand the surface area of human creativity. If you'd love to chat, please reach out at nancyann [dot] zhang @ gmail!

My biotech work these days focuses on allergies, the bane of my existence. I was briefly a Product Manager at Pacagen, a consumer allergy startup. Currently, I'm launching a research initiative, Pomona, to explore AI-driven research and development of hypoallergenic food proteins.

We also have a community awareness and advocacy arm. If you suffer from food allergies, whether it's anaphylaxis to peanuts or an itchy mouth from certain fruits or vegetables, stay tuned!

I co-founded and scaled the original event series where locals pitch their single friends in the style of a startup pitch deck. We were sold out at every event across dozens of cities and three countries, including France and Australia. We were featured in The NYTimes, NYPost, CBSN, NPR, Mashable, and more. And yes, several couples have gotten married!

I personally stopped working on this after Covid, but our Paris arm is still functioning under Pitch Dating. I'm happy to see that this has inspired a wave of similar events across the world.

I value creativity, beauty, and the ability to make the world a more vibrant, beautiful, and interesting place. I try to uphold these values in various ways:

• I document many of my creative endeavors on TikTok under <@schrodingersbrat>
• This summer, I'll be a Haystack Fellow for metalsmithing at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
• I was a ball girl at the US Open in 2023. Before that, I hadn't even been to a tennis match before, but I was motivated to make the highly selective team because I wanted to get into tennis
• I'm obsessed with the game Tradle, where you guess a country based on its exports, Wordle style. I made a website to visualize global exports so I can study more effectively: Tradle Trainer
• I love to write, and I maintain a pseudonymous blog about life in NYC