Benjamin Parker, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology, is a member of the 2020 Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences. Parker was selected from among 191 nominations submitted by leading US academic and research institutions to receive four years of funding to invest in exploratory research.
The 2020 Pew Scholars are undertaking groundbreaking research projects aimed at advancing human health, from development and aging to better detection, prevention, and defense against cancer.
Parker’s research uses an insect (the pea aphid) and the beneficial and harmful microbes that inhabit it as a model system to study host-microbe interactions, and his lab uses genomic, molecular, and experimental techniques.
Read more at micro.utk.edu.