Joseph Lynch
Research:
I’ll be doing plant biochemistry research. My focus is going to be on intercompartmental metabolism with a particular focus early on the metabolism of aromatic amino acids. Plant cells are divided into multiple compartments and oftentimes different metabolic pathways are in one compartment or another and this is supposed to help with efficiency of pathways. I’m hoping to figure out if there’s cross reactivity where there shouldn’t be. There are some pathways, including the pathway toward the amino acid phenylalanine, that are duplicated across multiple compartments. I’m hoping to figure out why. Why is there a perfectly good pathway in one compartment and a similar pathway in another? I suspect the reason is going to be different for different pathways. There could be different conditions where one pathway might be more important. I have yet to identify what those conditions are. That’s what I’m hoping to discover.
What jobs did you have before coming to WVU?
I was a research scientist at Purdue University. Between my post doc and the research scientist position, I was there for seven years.
What has been the most enjoyable time or moment in your education?
What has been the most enjoyable time or moment in your job?
What's one thing you wish you had known in college?
What were you most grateful for in 2020?
What have you most looked forward to in 2021?
Getting my lab off the ground; getting it up and running.
Just for Fun
Favorite meal: Steak
One thing you can't live without: Toilet paper