Imogen Wright

{{short description|South African software developer and bioinformatician}}

{{notability|Academics|date=November 2017}}

{{Infobox person

|name=Imogen Wright

|image=200px

|caption=Wright in 2017

| birth_name = Imogen Abigail Wright

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1986|01|21}}

| birth_place = Grahamstown, South Africa

| education = University of the Western Cape

| known_for = Co-founder of Hyrax Biosciences

| occupation = {{hlist|Bioinformatician|entrepreneur}}

}}

Imogen Wright is a South African{{Cite news|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/16/africa/aif-prize-inventions-2016/index.html|title=The 10 best inventions from Africa|author1=Katie Pisa |author2=Sophie Morlin-Yron|work=CNN|access-date=2017-11-06}} software developer and bioinformatician. They are co-founder and CTO of Hyrax Biosciences,{{Cite web|url=https://hyraxbio.co.za/team/|title=Hyrax Biosciences {{!}} Team|website=hyraxbio.co.za|access-date=2017-11-06|archive-date=2017-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107011441/https://hyraxbio.co.za/team/|url-status=dead}} a software development company specialising in DNA analysis programs.{{Cite web|url=https://hyraxbio.co.za/our-technology/|title=Hyrax Biosciences {{!}} Our Technology|website=hyraxbio.co.za|access-date=2017-11-06|archive-date=2017-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107023119/https://hyraxbio.co.za/our-technology/|url-status=dead}}

Education

They earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Physics at Rhodes University.{{Cite news|url=http://ipprogress.world/articles/imogen-wright-asking-%E2%80%9Cright%E2%80%9D-questions|title=Imogen Wright: Asking the "Right" Questions|work=IP Progress|access-date=2017-11-06|language=en|archive-date=2017-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107031933/http://ipprogress.world/articles/imogen-wright-asking-%E2%80%9Cright%E2%80%9D-questions|url-status=dead}} They then earned a Master of Science in Theoretical Physics at the Perimeter Institute in Canada. In 2015 the also earned a PhD in Bioinformatics from the University of Western Cape.{{Cite news|url=https://issuu.com/849269/docs/uwc_making_a_difference_draft15|title=UWC making a difference|work=issuu|access-date=2017-11-06|language=en}}

Career

In the past Wright has worked for Skimlinks. They were senior software developer and team leader at the big data startup in London. Wright also worked for the Amazon EC2 compute team as a software development engineer. They were a UWC-SANBI (University of the Western Cape’s South African Bioinformatics Institute) post-doctoral research fellow.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ru.ac.za/communicationsandadvancement/alumnirelations/latestnews/drimogenwright2005.html|title=Dr Imogen Wright (2005)|last=University|first=Rhodes|access-date=2017-11-06|language=en}}

Awards

Wright was the 2016 runner-up for the Innovation Prize for Africa.{{Cite web|url=https://www.uwc.ac.za/News/Pages/UWC-Researcher-Dr-Imogen-Wright-Runner-Up-for-the-African-Innovation-Prize.aspx|title=UWC Researcher Dr Imogen Wright: Runner-Up for the African Innovation Prize|website=www.uwc.ac.za|language=en-us|access-date=2017-11-06}} They won the prize of $25,000{{Cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/tobyshapshak/2016/06/23/malaria-hivaids-solutions-win-big-at-innovation-prize-for-africa/#d275b12779a3|title=Malaria, HIV/Aids Solutions Win Big At Innovation Prize for Africa|last=Shapshak|first=Toby|work=Forbes|access-date=2017-11-06|language=en}} for Exatype, a piece of software developed by Hyrax Biosciences. Exatype is genotyping and drug-resistance testing software, initially used for HIV-positive patients. They were also invited to, but did not attend, the five-week TechWoman program in 2016. From 2300 applicants they were one of 90 chosen. The program was started by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2011.

Publications

  • The Conversation: How South Africa can stop HIV drug resistance in its tracks (May 22, 2015){{Cite news|url=https://theconversation.com/how-south-africa-can-stop-hiv-drug-resistance-in-its-tracks-41779|title=How South Africa can stop HIV drug resistance in its tracks|last=Wright|first=Imogen|work=The Conversation|access-date=2017-11-06|language=en}}
  • Nucleic Acids Research: RAMICS: trainable, high-speed and biologically relevant alignment of high-throughput sequencing reads to coding DNA (May 26, 2014){{Cite journal|last1=Wright|first1=Imogen A.|last2=Travers|first2=Simon A.|date=2014-07-29|title=RAMICS: trainable, high-speed and biologically relevant alignment of high-throughput sequencing reads to coding DNA|url= |journal=Nucleic Acids Research|volume=42|issue=13|pages=e106|doi=10.1093/nar/gku473|pmid=24861618|pmc=4117746|issn=0305-1048}}
  • The Journal of Immunology: Ability To Develop Broadly Neutralizing HIV-1 Antibodies Is Not Restricted by the Germline Ig Gene Repertoire (April 17, 2015){{Cite journal|last1=Scheepers|first1=Cathrine|last2=Shrestha|first2=Ram K.|last3=Lambson|first3=Bronwen E.|last4=Jackson|first4=Katherine J. L.|last5=Wright|first5=Imogen A.|last6=Naicker|first6=Dshanta|last7=Goosen|first7=Mark|last8=Berrie|first8=Leigh|last9=Ismail|first9=Arshad|date=2015-05-01|title=Ability To Develop Broadly Neutralizing HIV-1 Antibodies Is Not Restricted by the Germline Ig Gene Repertoire|journal=The Journal of Immunology|language=en|volume=194|issue=9|pages=4371–4378|doi=10.4049/jimmunol.1500118|issn=0022-1767|pmid=25825450|pmc=4513073}}
  • Google Scholar, patents: Testing the operation of an application programming interface (October 14, 2014){{cite patent|title=Testing the operation of an application programming interface|pubdate=Oct 14, 2014|inventor-last=Ginsberg|inventor2-last=Brown|inventor3-last=Eriksson|inventor-first=Beth H.|inventor2-first=David|inventor3-first=Neil A.|country=US|number=8862950}}
  • Journal of Virology: Intact HIV Proviruses Persist in Children Seven to Nine Years after Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy in the First Year of Life (31 January 2020){{Cite journal|last1=Katusiime|first1=Mary|last2=Halvas|first2=Elias|last3=Wright|first3=Imogen|last4=Joseph|first4=Kevin|last5=Bale|first5=Michael A.|last6=Kirby-McCullough|first6=Bronwen|last7=Engelbrecht|first7=Susan|last8=Shao|first8=Wei|last9=Hu|first9=Wei-Shau|last10=Cotton|first10=Mark|last11=Mellors|first11=John|last12=Kearney|first12=Mary|last13=van Zyl|first13=Gert|title=Intact HIV Proviruses Persist in Children Seven to Nine Years after Initiation of Antiretroviral Therapy in the First Year of Life|journal=Journal of Virology|year=2020|language=en|volume=94|issue=4|doi=10.1128/JVI.01519-19|issn=0022-1767|pmid=31776265|pmc=6997763}}
  • Retrovirology: HIVIntact: a python-based tool for HIV-1 genome intactness inference (27 June 2021){{Cite journal|last1=Wright|first1=Imogen|last2=Bale|first2=Michael|last3=Shao|first3=Wei|last4=Hu|first4=Wei-Shau|last5=Coffin|first5=John|last6=van Zyle|first6=Gert|last7=Kearney|first7=Mary|date=2021-06-27|title=HIVIntact: a python-based tool for HIV-1 genome intactness inference|journal=Journal of Virology|language=en|volume=18|issue=16|page=16|doi=10.1186/s12977-021-00561-5|issn=0022-1767|pmid=34176496|pmc=8237426 |doi-access=free }}

References