Chris Taranto
Chris Taranto grew up in Bethlehem, New York and completed his Bachelor of Arts at Wheaton College MA in Biochemistry, minoring in Mathematics, where he competed on the varsity baseball team. His undergraduate work investigated the role of the innate immune system in driving a long-fin phenotype in zebrafish mutants under Dr. Jennifer Lanni. Chris’s honors thesis focused on differences in levels of neutrophils and reactive oxygen species (ROS) between wild-type and long-fin zebrafish. In addition to his undergraduate research experiences, he interned for Regeneron Pharmaceuticals where he worked on characterization and quantification of in-process biologics including adeno-associated viruses (AAV). Before graduating from Wheaton, he became increasingly interested in pancreatic cancer due to personal reasons. In the DelGiorno lab, Chris is currently investigating intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMNs), precursors to pancreatic cancer, and how glycosylation influences their aggressiveness. Chris enjoys spending quality time with friends and family and playing sports such as baseball, basketball, golf, and hockey.