Ryan Burnett

Title: Research Associate

Laboratory: Gottesfeld lab. "Joel is great. He's very available and runs a tight-knit group."

Duties: Working on a project that addresses potential HIV therapy involving down-regulating a protein, CCR5, that is absent in long-term HIV survivors. Burnett is looking at ways to modulate this gene expression through DNA-binding small molecules. "It's a promising and relevant project. I'm really excited about what I am doing."

Background: Bachelor's degree from Indiana University, Indianapolis. Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology, where he worked on RNA-modifying enzymes.

Why He Came to TSRI: "Although the benefits at Scripps are a plus, the science and scientists were key."

Family Life: Newly wed to Peri, who will soon begin teaching African art history at the California State University, Northridge.

Extracurriculars: Photography and video, especially of a recent trip to Ethiopia, where his wife was researching the social, political, and historical significance of women's art. "Truly, it was hard to take bad pictures there," Burnett says. He is still cataloging the images from the trip and working on a documentary video with the goal of recording and preserving Oromo culture.

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Research Associate Ryan Burnett was drawn to TSRI by the science and scientists. In his spare time, he works on photography and video projects, such as cataloging photos he took on a recent trip to Ethiopia.Photo by Kevin Fung.