About Josh

Josh was born in Reading, Pennsylvania where he also started his academic career at community college. He had no idea what to study, so he took the opposite approach and sampled a smearing of everything. Transferring to Penn State, he settled on a biology major with a focus on genetics and development and joined an environmental microbiology lab studying antibiotic resistant bacteria in local waterways. This kickstarted his interest in a research career, which he further explored as a summer fellow at NIST using yeast to create a calibration curve for the incorporation of deuterium into proteins. Then, he worked as a postbac at NIH studying Polycomb group protein recruitment in Drosophila melanogaster.

Ultimately, this led to his application and acceptance into Harvard’s MCO Ph.D. program, where he continues to indulge a variety of research interests such as pre-biotic chemistry and host-microbiome interactions. Outside of research, he has a cat named Leo, a continuously expanding vinyl and CD collection, and an admiration for anything space related. His latest endeavors include watching everything within the Star Trek Universe, solving increasingly complex Rubik’s cubes, trying to get past the Monday NYT crossword puzzles (which increase in difficulty throughout the week), and searching for novel drinking locations.