Mariano hails from the Lone Star state, where his interest in microbial pathogenesis started in middle school when he read the Hot Zone. While pursuing his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas, he became interested in immunology, and his undergraduate research focused on the role of chemokines in guiding T cell development in the thymus. He also spent summers working in immunology labs at the University of North Texas, the DRFZ in Berlin, and at Memorial Sloan Kettering, where he worked in the lab of Morgan Huse. His positive experience at MSK led him to return as a graduate student as part of the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School. Mariano’s interest in microbial pathogenesis led him to join the lab of Tobias Hohl, where he is currently studying how transcriptional regulation of lysosomes contributes to anti-Aspergillus immunity. Outside of lab, he enjoys reading science-fiction and playing soccer, and debating how to pronounce “fungi” (it’s definitely a hard “g”).