Juan joins us as our 1st postdoc (or as postdoc number Juan, as he likes to say ;] )
Originally from Puerto Rico, Juan moved to the United States to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Microbiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. As an undergraduate researcher in James Holden’s lab, he studied microbes collected from deep-sea hydrothermal vents. During this time, Juan became fascinated with infectious diseases and his research experiences encouraged him to pursue a graduate degree.
Following graduation, Juan participated in the NIH Post-Baccalaureate Research Education Program at Yale University, where he worked in Akiko Iwasaki’s lab investigating how the immune system recognizes endogenous retroviruses. He later moved to Boston to pursue his PhD in Molecular Microbiology at Tufts University in Ralph Isberg’s lab. His doctoral research focused on understanding how Acinetobacter baumannii, an opportunistic ESKAPE pathogen, evolves resistance to clinically useful antibiotics within the mammalian lung.
Welcome, Juan!