Joseph Pickard, Ph.D.

Research Fellow, Pathology

Biography

I received a BS in Biochemistry from the University of Washington in Seattle in 2005. After graduation I worked in Dr. Andrew Farr's lab at UW learning about thymus development and thymic epithelial cell function. I was admitted to the Committee on Immunology at the University of Chicago and joined Dr. Alexander Chervonsky's lab. My thesis work examined inducible glycosylation in the mouse gut and its role in host/microbe symbiosis. I received my PhD in Immunology in 2014. After continuing as a postdoc there for another year, I joined Dr. Gabriel Nunez's lab at the University of Michigan in 2016.

Research Interests

Currently, I am interested in the role of the gut microbiota in excluding pathogens, pathobionts and non-native bacteria (known as "colonization resistance"). A related line of research is identifying factors that control the assembly and development of a healthy, functional gut microbiota.

Award

Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award F32 NIDDK