Joseph Patterson, PhD, earned his bachelor's degree in biology with an emphasis on microscopy from Central Michigan University in 2008, a master's degree in biology from Central Michigan University in 2010 and a PhD in genetics from Michigan State University in 2016. His doctoral dissertation was completed in the laboratory of John Goudreau, PhD, DO, and Keith Lookingland, PhD. There he studied the Park2 gene in two kinds of dopamine-producing brain cells. He is currently conducting his post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Caryl Sortwell, PhD, where he optimizes and tests disease-modifying strategies in a pre-clinical model of Parkinson's with alpha-synuclein clumps. He also studies protein production in cells undergoing neurodegeneration related to alpha-synuclein clumping.