Ryan grew up in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and his family is 
originally from Lebanon. He is a recent graduate of the University of Oregon, where he attained a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, with minors in Chemistry and Theatre Arts. During his undergraduate degree, he worked in Annie Zemper’s laboratory where he studied the roles of proteins in the colonic epithelium of mice. Ryan is incredibly excited to learn about the evolutionary processes involved in host-microbe interactions and to be a part of this important research. Ryan enjoys drawing, going on hikes and cooking outside of the lab.