Reyes is a graduate student in the Penn Cell and Molecular Biology (CAMB) Graduate Group and the Microbiology, Virology, and Parasitology (MVP) program. He was born and raised in Phoenix, AZ, moved to Seattle, WA, for undergrad at Seattle Pacific University, and is now stationed in Philly for a PhD at UPenn – so he’s got 3 of the 4 corners of the country checked off! Prior to Penn, Reyes worked in autoimmunity, oncogenesis, and epigenomics, to name a few. He is passionate about enhancing biological outcomes for susceptible populations and intends to use gene editing tools to understand the kinetics of CAR T cell dysfunction and the adaptive immune response to HIV infection. Outside of lab, Reyes is a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, a marathoner (yikes), loves to go backpacking and hiking as many weekends as possible, climbs big rocks, and shows his love to friends by cooking elaborate meals and convening over dinner and wine.