Tsion Abay is a PhD Student in the biological and biomedical sciences (BBS) program at Harvard Medical School. In the Sabeti Lab, she is interested in investigating host-viral interactions to help inform better therapeutics. She is also working on developing diagnostics for pathogens with pandemic potential.

Tsion completed her B.S in Biochemistry at Rowan University where she conducted research in the Krummenacher lab to understand the entry mechanisms of Herpes Simplex Virus – 1 (HSV-1). After graduating, she joined Twist Biosciences where she worked towards establishing assays for their gene production pipeline. She then worked in the Satpathy lab at Gladstone Institutes where she developed genomic tools for studying rare cell types in health and disease.

In her spare time, Tsion enjoys taking care of her plants, listening to audiobooks and attempting (mostly unsuccessfully) to make traditional Ethiopian coffee.