Dr. Sebastian Lourido is a faculty member at the Whitehead Institute and an assistant professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His lab uses Toxoplasma gondii as a model to study the underlying mechanisms of how the apicomplexan phylum of parasites infect and spread diseases such as malaria and toxoplasmosis.
As an undergraduate student at Tulane University, Lourido double majored in Cell & Molecular Biology and Studio Art. Realizing that scientific research allowed him to stretch the same creative muscles as art, he ultimately decided to pursue a career in biology. Lourido received his PhD in microbiology from Washington University in St. Louis where he worked in Dr. David Sibley’s lab. In 2012, he was offered the opportunity to establish a lab and conduct independent research at the Whitehead Institute in lieu of a traditional postdoctoral fellowship. A year later, he won the NIH director’s early independence award in 2013. In early 2017, he became the 28th individual to be named a Whitehead Institute faculty member. Over the years, Lourido has maintained his interest in art and finds ways to intertwine his art background into his science.
Learn more about the Lourido lab here
