Simon is working as a Research Assistant in the Kaur Lab at Department of Biological Sciences at UIC. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University where he conducted research on tagging and purifying specific types of ribosomes of Plasmodium yoelii under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Lindner. In the Kaur Lab, using Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, he is exploring the complex interactions between insect hosts and their endosymbiont Wolbachia, with the goal of understanding how this bacterium shapes host biology across multiple levels and species. In his free time, Simon enjoys bicycling, photography and reading