Hina Iftikhar
Scientist III
Hina Iftikhar joined the Allen Institute in 2024 as the foundational member of the ‘Sense’ team at the Seattle Hub for Synthetic Biology. She is a molecular biologist with expertise in genomics molecular assays and single-cell sequencing platforms. Before joining Allen Institute, she worked at biotech companies including Sana Biotechnology and Genentech. At Sana Biotechnology she focused on genomics assay development and her contributions spanned early-stage programs to IND submissions for donor and stem cell-derived therapies. Prior to working in industry, during her Ph.D. at Texas A&M University, she explored the role of microRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster male courtship behavior.
research focus
At SeaHub Hina will focus on building out the “Sense” team. The “Sense” team will be part of a larger effort that includes teams focused on expanding our abilities to engineer cells and genomes to autonomously “Write,” “Read,” and “Act” at a molecular level. The Sense team will work on building and improving signal conversion technologies aimed at sensing changes in the cell and transmitting that information to modules that 'Write' those changes to the cell's DNA. Essentially, the team will work to improve performance of artificial signal transduction capabilities, e.g., using ENGRAM.
