Jack O’Sullivan

I am an undergraduate researcher at the Steckelberg lab, majoring in biological sciences at Columbia University. I was born in Washington, D.C., earned a B.A. in Japanese language from the University of Maryland, and worked as a translator and paralegal in Los Angeles before rediscovering a childhood love of science and returning to school to study biology.

After a productive dive down an internet rabbit hole precipitated by Richard Preston's The Hot Zone (which deals with the emergence of Marburgvirus and Ebolavirus as human pathogens), I found myself falling in love with viruses (especially the dangerous ones), and with a great admiration for the people who study them.

In the Steckelberg lab I am working to understand features of the SARS-CoV-2 5' untranslated region that allow viral mRNA transcripts to be translated despite suppression of endogenous protein production by viral NSP1.

In my free time I love reading books in Japanese (science fiction is my favorite), knitting, climbing, running, and, when I can get out of the city, hiking and camping.

contact: jo2652[at]columbia.edu