José is from Peru, where he obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology with a specialization in Aquaculture from the Universidad Nacional del Santa.

At the end of his junior year, he became interested in molecular genetics, and joined the Laboratory of Genetics, Physiology and Reproduction (LGFyR), led by Prof. Eliana Zelada, where he completed my undergraduate thesis project: “Population-genetics structure of A. purpuratus (Scallop) from the north-central region of the Peruvian coast”. He then went on to be a research assistant at LGFyR, working on sex determination, differentiation, and germ cell characterization in Arapaima gigas (Paiche), the biggest amazon fish.

In the Extavour Lab, José was a visiting student during the summer of 2017, supported by a fellowship from the Peruvian National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC). His goal was to study the molecular mechanisms that underlie germ cell specification in non-model organisms. With the guidance of then-PhD student Linda Honaker, he worked on analyzing the functions of the oskar gene.

José is currently a PhD candidate in Japan.