Alexander Atkinson lives in Salt Lake City, where he is a research assistant in Dr. Ilardo’s Lab studying human genetics. Alex has a Bachelor’s in Bioinformatics and a minor in computer science from BYU, and loves research. He has done research in Odonata, Nematodes, neurology, phages, and wetland conservation. This lab has allowed him to move into medicine. He enjoys developing bioinformatics pipelines, improving or creating new tools, and discovering new insights into the human body and genome in an effort to help others. He is currently assisting the lab by developing a pipeline aimed at finding sites of natural selection in populations, specifically, “superhuman” populations. He is applying to the Biomedical Informatics PhD program for Fall 2026. When not researching, Alex enjoys doing yard work, playing with his dog, playing video games, and reading and writing.