Steven Zwick, PhD​

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Steven grew up in multiple states from coast to coast across the US. He received his BS in Physics from Yale University, where his interest in understanding how complex behaviors emerge from simple systems began to draw him toward biology. After an undergraduate research experience computationally modeling neural networks in Drosophila olfaction, Steven decided he needed to get his hands dirty in the wet lab. He moved to Harvard and obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Physics in Dr. Sharad Ramanathan's lab, in which he studied how diffusive gradients of morphogen signals differentiate stem cells, pattern tissues, and organize morphogenesis in early mammalian development. Wanting to apply quantitative and biological skills toward questions with immediate clinical implications, Steven became a postdoctoral research fellow in the Rajagopal lab in 2023. His current interest is how inhaled antigens are sampled across the airway epithelium by the underlying immune system, and how cell signaling pathways coordinate this antigen sampling across space and time, during homeostasis and disease.

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What drew you to your field?

Airway epithelium is a complex but experimentally-powerful system that's always exposed to the environment!

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What do you do when you’re not in the lab?

I enjoy cooking, running, reading about history and politics, mixing cocktails, and watching movies.

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Describe Rajagopal lab culture in 3 words:

Big picture sandbox