Will doyle
Will grew up outside Boston, MA, and obtained his B.A. in Biology from Williams College in 2019, where he studied Agrobacterium tumefaciens plant infection with Dr. Lois Banta. He then worked on new avenues for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia in Dr. Zuzana Tothova’s lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for two years, before moving to NYC to join the Rockefeller Graduate Program in 2022. Now in the lab of Dr. Jeremy Rock, his thesis research examines proteomic dynamics and druggability in the pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with a particular focus on host-pathogen interactions. He joined the RockOUT leadership in the spring of 2023, where he has managed communications and helped organize the new board and various events. A trombonist on the side, he loves playing jazz, dancing to 80s music, and discovering the queer scene in NYC.
john bowen
John is a graduate fellow in the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology (Nussenzweig Laboratory) that joined Rockefeller University in 2022, studying the human immune response to vaccines and viruses. A native Midwesterner, John obtained his Bachelor of Science from Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, in 2020 before a two-year stint as a research scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle. Since joining RockOUT in early 2023, he has hosted several social events, updated and maintained the website, and organized the iconic 2024 Out In Science panel. In his free time, John enjoys traveling, running, swimming, reading, playing euchre, and hanging with friends.
sebastian gonzalez behn eschen
Sebastian grew up in Mexico City, where he also earned his undergrad degree in Basic Biomedical Research at UNAM. He then spent a year in the Pernas lab at the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, studying how mitochondria respond to infection with the intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii. Following his interests in host-pathogen interactions, he is currently in the Rock lab investigating novel virulence factors in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Outside of the lab he is passionate about building a welcoming and supportive community at RU. For this reason, he has contributed to the organization of socials hosted by RockOUT every month for lunch and hangouts after work. He is excited to start planning more RockOUT socials outside of Rockefeller involving cultural experiences which bring the queer community at RU closer together.
In his free time, Sebastian enjoys spending his days outside; from running in Central Park and sunbathing by the Hudson to trying out new outdoor restaurants and bars.
Giacomo glotzer
Giacomo grew up in Chicago, IL and studied neuroscience at Yale University. During the pandemic, he spent a year studying axolotl limb regeneration in Austria. He is a first year, so he is still rotating through potential labs at Rockefeller, but he is primarily interested in dynamical systems and sensory neuroscience. Outside of lab, Giacomo dedicates most of his free time to cello and running. He greatly appreciates the community that RockOUT offers and helped organize the Out in Science panel discussion this spring.
sofia moraes
Sofia is a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Host-Pathogen Biology headed by Jeremy Rock. She is using comparative functional genomics to study the evolution and physiological consequences of antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Sofia grew up in Brazil and received her BS in Molecular Biology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. She received her PhD from the University of Minnesota, where she investigated how ancient and ongoing genetic conflicts between viruses and their hosts shape protein evolution. She joined the RockOut board in 2024 and has helped organize queer-centered initiatives like the Out in Science Panel and LGBTQ+ lunch social hours.
Francesco gianoli
Francesco Gianoli grew up in a mountain village in the Italian Alps and studied Physics at Università degli Studi di Torino. While his peers were passionate about particle Physics, Francesco found Physics in his passion for violin-making. Collaborating with his mentor, master luthier Gianfranco Dindo, he developed a novel method for guiding the construction of violin bridges. This work became the focus of his Bachelor’s thesis and of a small, accessible scientific book, “Violin-making from Art to Science”, co-authored with Dindo. The violin-making school they co-founded still thrives in his hometown.
Francesco’s fascination with acoustics led him to the biophysics of hearing and to a PhD at Imperial College London with Prof. Andriy S. Kozlov. There, he developed a new model of auditory mechanotransduction that addressed a long-lasting problem in the field and which first incorporated the functional role of lipids in auditory mechanosensation. Moving from theory to experimentation, Francesco then pioneered an innovative technique to stimulate hair cells, the sensory receptors of the ear, at previously inaccessible frequencies, using photonic pressure.
In 2021, Francesco joined Jim Hudspeth’s laboratory at Rockefeller University to continue his research on mammalian hearing. He is a proud member of RockOUT, striving to be a positive LGBTQ+ role model for younger scientists, visible in the community—something he wishes he had during his early career.
Jona bermudez
Jona (he, him, his.) was born in New York but raised in Colombia; that should explain his accent. Although he is not a scientist, he loves learning about biomedical concerns and new developments. More importantly, he is very passionate about The Rockefeller University's mission, "Science for the benefit of humanity." Jona obtained his undergrad degree from Baruch College in Music Management, Art Administration, and a minor in theater. He worked for about nine years in the Social Field, got burned out, and decided to pursue his real calling in Human Resources. He went back to school and obtained his masters in Human Resources Management from Adelphi University.
He has been with Rockefeller University for about three years, and was very lucky and proud to have joined and served as a Board Member for the RockOut Community during the school year of 2023-2024. It was a great experience and opportunity to have been able to connect, learn and work along with such an amazing group of diverse, brilliant individuals.
For hobbies, aside from his passion for traveling around the world and a heavy social life, he enjoys staying physically active; he loves to go on hikes, late-night runs, hot yoga, or just taking a spinning/aerobic class in the gym. He is a master swimmer and a coach for one of the largest LGTBQ+ swim teams in the world (TNYA).