Akshay is a Research Technologist in the Kaur Lab at the University of Illinois Chicago. He earned his Master’s in Bioinformatics from Northeastern University, during which he conducted research at the University of Utah studying how diet shapes the gut microbiome of desert woodrats, with a focus on the bacterial family Eggerthellaceae. In the Kaur Lab, he combines molecular and computational approaches to study how Wolbachia alters reproduction and chromatin architecture in Drosophila and mosquitoes. Outside the lab, Akshay loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking, camping, and exploring national parks. He has visited 25 states (and counting!) and is always on the hunt for new places and cuisines.