Joanna Tannous is an associate staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. She is associated with the Synthetic Biology group within the Biosciences Division and the Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate. Joanna specializes in developing genome editing tools in non-model fungal species to elucidate the molecular mechanisms and pathways regulating fungal pathogenicity, metabolism, and the interaction of the fungus with its host and surrounding microbial communities. Her research is also focused on discovering and characterizing novel fungal metabolites through genetic manipulation and “-omics” approaches to study their role in fungal-host interactions and microbiome dynamics. Joanna has earned her Ph.D. in Pathology, Toxicology, Genetics, and Nutrition from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (INPT), Toulouse, France, and a second Ph.D. in Chemistry from St. Joseph University, Lebanon. She had previous postdoctoral appointments at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Horticulture and Seed Research Institute (IRHS), University of Angers, France. Joanna is a member of the Genetic Society of America (GSA) and American Society for Microbiology (ASM).