Christopher Jannotta ’24 — the URECA Researcher of the Month for October — is a senior in the Honors College majoring in biochemistry. He joined the research group of Professor Patrick Hearing, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, at the end of freshman year; was awarded URECA fellowships in summers 2022 and 2023 to support his research in the Hearing lab; and gained expertise in many molecular biology laboratory techniques including performing western blots and qPCR for viral replication assays, and recombineering, cloning, and tagging viral DNA. This year, Jannotta will be completing an honors senior thesis on: “Adenovirus protein VII interactions with host antiviral DNA detection and response pathways.”
His advice for other students interested in doing research: “When it comes to applying to a lab and doing research, you want to look at the researcher’s particular area of expertise and publications. You want to be really sure that you’re interested and willing to learn more about that type of work.”
Jannotta presented his work at the URECA Celebration/Undergraduate Research symposium (May 2023) and is currently in the process of applying to medical school. On campus, he is active on the E-board for Sigma Beta Honor Society and has served as a teaching assistant for Organic Chemistry I and II. He volunteers at the Emergency Department at St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson, NY, and has volunteered at the Stony Brook Health Outreach and Medical Education Free Clinic through the Undergraduate Clinical Experience Program.
Read the interview with URECA Director Karen Kernan.
