Sean Siniscalco

Sean grew up in Flemington, New Jersey with his three sisters and the family’s five cats. Not moving far for college, Sean attended The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) where he got his bachelor’s degree in Biology.

During his time at TCNJ, which was shortened by the pandemic, Sean worked as a student researcher in the lab of Dr. Kathyrn Elliott studying mechanisms of spontaneous large deletions in bacterial genomes. Sean also participated in TNCJ’s Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience (MUSE) program where he got to perform research full time in Dr. Elliott’s lab in both the summer of 2021 and 2022.

After graduating from TCNJ in December of 2022, Sean had developed a love of microbiology and found a job studying a variety of pathogens as a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Merrell at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. His project in the Merrell lab focused on identifying the sensitivity of the ESKAPE pathogens to metals with broad goals of exploiting these sensitivities to combat the ongoing crisis of antibiotic resistance.

Sean joined UTSW in fall of 2023 driven by a goal of furthering his love for research by getting a PhD in Molecular Microbiology. Through his past experiences with both bacterial genetics as well as working in the antimicrobial field, he saw joining the Forsberg Lab as an opportunity to build on his past of bacterial genetics and antimicrobial work by studying how phages employ a variety of counter-defenses to overcome bacterial resistance.

When not in lab, you can often find Sean at home practicing the bassoon or doing more “experiments” as he tries expanding his baking repertoire. He is also an avid lover of classical music and frequents the performances of the Dallas Symphony.