Lydia Andreyevna Krasilnikova is a PhD candidate in Harvard’s department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. She works on pathogen identification through metagenomic sequencing, which she uses to study undercharacterized or novel viral species, interactions between co-occurring infections, and disease outbreaks, especially among vulnerable and underserved populations. She is broadly interested in disease surveillance, human evolution and migration, and personal genomics.
Lydia graduated with an MEng from MIT, where she majored in computer science and molecular biology and math and minored in writing. Outside of research, Lydia works on visual and written communication about math, science, and scientist culture. She has written for MIT Admissions and MIT Technology Review and has illustrated MIT outreach publications. You can follow her work at lakrasilnikova.home.blog.