Growing up in Schenectady, New York, Emily Agnello, PhD'23, initially wanted to pursue cosmology because of famous astrophysicists Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

“Where I come from, there are a lot of socioeconomic barriers to attending college, so I didn’t have anyone to help me navigate that track,” Agnello said. “I thought a more straight-forward career was pharmaceuticals—I was passionate about that after watching my dad survive a myriad of health issues where drugs kept him alive. I pursued a degree in chemistry and considered pharmacy school but fell in love with biochemistry and wet-lab research.”

Agnello earned her bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UMass Amherst in 2018. She said she never dreamed of earning her PhD, but a positive research experience combined with a mentor who believed in her led her to apply to the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UMass Chan Medical School.

“The students and faculty at UMass Chan were engaging, easygoing and I could sense a real collaborative community. I wanted a PhD where I could do some basic research but also translational work; I felt there was a good balance here.”

Agnello’s research in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biotechnology Program with Brian Kelch, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry & molecular pharmacology, focused on investigating the features of a bacteriophage (phage), or a virus that infects bacteria.

“My current work elucidated how the tails of phage assemble,” said Agnello. “These tails are essential to infections so understanding how they work is essential. I even just published a preprint of my first first-author paper on this topic this week.”

Agnello plans to pursue a role in industry as a lead scientist. After that, she hopes to transition into a management role where she can step away from the bench, using her organizational skills to manage and support a team in their accomplishments. When out of the lab, she led UMass Chan’s a cappella group, UMass Docappella.