Samira Kiani

Samira Kiani

I am a genetic engineer, science communicator, and multimedia producer.

I’m the co founder and CEO of GenexGen Inc, a startup company dedicated to innovate in the space of immunotherapies and vaccination by bringing advances in epigenetic therapies and cell therapies to immunology. our lead candidate is a tolerogenic vaccine for adjunctive use for gene therapies.

I am an associate professor of pathology and bioengineering at University of Pittsburgh, where my research is focused on the novel epi/gene editing tools for controlling acquired conditions related to immunity and combine these tools with synthetic biology principles for safety and controllability . I started working in the area of genetic engineering in 2010 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and started my own research lab at Arizona State University in 2016.

But I also am passionate to revisit the current process of innovation. To do so, part of my work is dedicated to fostering science that is soulful, self-aware, human-centered, and informed by the collective wisdom of society.I have a served as a Leshner Leadership Fellow at the AAAS’s Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology, and have been a multimedia producer with a film, a podcast, virtual reality experiences, and theatrical productions in the works. Make People Better, my feature-length documentary about the ethical perils of human genetic engineering, premiered at the Hot Docs international film festival in April 2022.

Share this speaker
  • Organization
    University of Pittsburgh
  • Profession
    Associate Professor

Are you sure you want to remove this speaker?