Michael Gomez is a Research Associate II on the Diagnostics Team in the Sabeti Lab. He is particularly interested in leveraging the power of CRISPR-based diagnostics to create surveillance tools for low-resource settings. Additionally, he is passionate about improving global health through community partnerships and field work.
Michael earned a BA in Health Science and a minor in Political Science from Boston University. As an undergraduate, Michael spent much of his time outside of class working in the community service center, directing a food rescue program during the pandemic to provide food insecurity relief to communities across the Boston area. This work, combined with his studies in the life sciences, motivated him to work in roles that would lead to meaningful improvements in public health. His first role out of school was working in a clinical testing laboratory at BU to detect SARS-COV-2 in patient samples across the university community. Following that experience, he transitioned to an assay development and optimization role at Sherlock Biosciences. At Sherlock he paired isothermal amplification technologies with CRISPR Cas12 and CAS13a systems to detect a panel of sexually transmitted infections for an over-the-counter device.
Currently, Michael is working in the Sabeti Lab to further develop the mCARMEN technology to detect a variety of avian and swine influenza subtypes. Additionally, Michael has contributed to the lab’s response to the recent avian influenza outbreak (H5N1) by developing and carrying out a surveillance system to detect the presence of influenza virus in commercial and raw milk samples.
Outside of the lab, you can probably find Michael working on his makeshift garden on his Allston balcony, taking online language classes, picking up a new hobby (sewing being most recent), or going on a last-minute solo trip to a country with the best flight deals.