Joshua François, PhD is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School in the laboratory of Dr. Galit Lahav, Novartis Professor of Systems Biology. Dr. François’s research interest is to understand how extrinsic physical and chemical cues affect the behavior of individual cells. Before joining Dr. Lahav’s group, Dr. François investigated how extracellular matrix density affects the mechanics of 3-dimensional (3-D) white blood cell (leukocyte) migration. As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. François uses his background in quantitative image analysis and leukocyte biology to understand how compound radiation therapy and immunotherapy treatments affect cancer cell fates. Dr. François’s research has implications for the design of more efficacious compound cancer therapy strategies while also contributing to the fundamental understanding of DNA damage responses to extrinsic cues.
Dr. Joshua François completed his Ph.D. in bioengineering at the University of California San Diego, where he worked with Dr. Juan Lasheras, Dr. Juan Carlos del Alamo, and Dr. Shu Chien. Dr. François completed his B.S. in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Dr. François is the recipient of several prestigious awards and fellowships including the Harvard Medical School Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, MARC U*STAR Scholarship, and UMBC Meyerhoff Scholarship. As a passionate advocate for diversity in academia, Dr. François has also mentored both community college and undergraduate underrepresented students interested in research careers