Students

Mehdi is an MD candidate at Stanford University, concentrating in bioengineering. He received his B.S. in biomedical engineering from Yale University, after which he completed a post-baccalaureate research fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. Mehdi’s research interests lie at the intersection of engineering and precision medicine. Using both computational and wet-lab techniques, he seeks to uncover the genetic underpinnings of disease at the single cell level, especially cancer. At the Ashley Lab, he is developing methods to characterize the phenotypic landscape of cardiomyocytes. Mehdi is passionate about using his research to bring novel medical technologies from bench to patient bedside. In his free time, you’ll find Mehdi traveling, reading Urdu poetry, or—recently—playing lots of Pickleball!

Saskia is an undergraduate at Stanford studying biomedical computation. Her research interests include the genetics of cardiovascular disease, single cell morphology, and rare genetic diseases. At the Ashley lab, she is studying how variants in the TNNI3 gene cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Outside of the lab, Saskia enjoys trying new foods, doing pilates, reading, and learning to golf!

Weston is a PhD student in the Computer Science department. He grew up in Boston, MA, and earned his BA in Computer Science from UC Berkeley in 2018, where he collaborated with UCSF faculty to work on developing AI methods for electrocardiogram interpretation and transcription factor binding prediction. Weston is passionate about understanding how AI can be applied to cardiovascular imaging to better understand diseases and improve health outcomes. In his spare time, Weston enjoys scuba diving and performing and watching improv comedy.

Tanner is a graduate student in the Genetics PhD program who is interested in clinical genomics and the impact of structural variation on human disease. Before coming to Stanford, Tanner received his B.S. in Bioinformatics at Brigham Young University with minors in Computer Science and Mathematics. He then worked as a research technician at the Mayo Clinic in the lab of Dr. John Fryer, studying the molecular response of brain immune cell types to Alzheimer’s disease pathology. During his PhD, Tanner hopes to use long-read sequencing on both rare disease and Alzheimer’s cohorts to elucidate how rare structural variants lead to aberrant gene expression and increased disease risk. In addition to this research, Tanner is passionate about making science more accessible, cycling with friends, and dancing to good music.

Sriya Mantena is a Junior studying Computer Science on the AI track with a minor in comparative studies in race and ethnicity. At the Ashley Lab, Sriya is using large language models to tailor prompts to myHeartCounts app users, motivating them to increase their physical activity and combat heart disease. Outside of the lab, Sriya is passionate about making computer science more accessible, enjoys running, and is learning how to dj!

Arman is a Stanford senior studying Bioengineering and Economics. Passionate about harnessing the precision medicine revolution to improve care in global health settings, his scientific interests include stem cell and synthetic biology for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. At Stanford, Arman works as part of the wet lab team at the Ashley lab (working on developing new genome engineering tools and disease models for CV disease diagnostic pipelines), runs quality improvement initiatives with Stanford Healthcare’s governance boards, co-authors a textbook on healthcare economics, and leads an India/Indo-American politics/economics speaker club. For fun, he engages in guitar, tennis, Formula 1, and drone photography.

Althea is a current rising 4th year medical student attending the Larner College of Medicine (Class of 2025) at the University of Vermont. She recently received the Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Fellowship award (2023-2024) and will be conducting her year-long research at the Ashley Lab investigating genetic variants that cause HCM. Prior to medical school, she obtained her bachelor of science degrees (2018) in biology and chemistry at the University of Guam.

Roger is an undergraduate researcher studying biology, biomedical data science, and music. He is passionate about the intersection of medicine and computer science and is currently working with Stanford UDN to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms of rare Inborn Errors of Immunity disorders. Roger is also a dedicated pianist and violinist and serves as Concertmaster of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. He also enjoys volunteering at nursing homes with Stanford Side by Side and practicing martial arts in his free time.