Nicanor Robles Austriaco, Jr. OP is a

Filipino-American Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...

molecular biologist Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

and

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

. He is a professor of biology and professor of theology at

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

, in Providence, Rhode Island, and a research fellow at the Center for Theology, Religious Studies, and Ethics, at the

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (UST; ), officially the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines or colloquially as ''Ustê'' (), is a Private university, private Catholic school, Catholic researc ...

in the Philippines.

Early life and education

Austriaco attended the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

where he earned a Bachelor of Science Engineering (B.S.E.), ''summa cum laude'', in 1989. He went on to earn a PhD in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1996, where he was a

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...

pre-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Professor

Leonard Guarente Leonard Pershing Guarente (born 1952) is an American biologist best known for his research on life span extension in the budding yeast ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'', roundworms (''Caenorhabditis elegans''), and mice. He is a Novartis Professor o ...

. His doctoral research involved the characterization of the first aging genes in the budding yeast, ''

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have be ...

''. In 1997, after a brief fellowship at the Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research at the University College London, he entered the Order of Friars Preachers. He attended the

Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception The Dominican House of Studies is a Catholic institution in Washington, DC, housing both the Priory of the Immaculate Conception, a community of the Province of St. Joseph of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), and the Pontifical Faculty of the I ...

at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., where he earned his Master of Divinity degree and Licentiate in Sacred Theology. He completed his Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (; ) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius founded the Collège Saint-Michel in the City of Fribourg ...

in 2015. Austriaco earned an M.B.A. degree from

in 2020.

Career

Since 2005, Austriaco has served on the faculty of

. In the same year, he became an investigator at the Rhode Island Idea Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) Program. He is also the founding director of , which seeks to promote a Catholic approach to understanding evolution in the light of faith. He is co-author of a book on Thomistic evolution. In 2011, Austriaco published a book titled ''Biomedicine and Beatitude: an Introduction to Catholic Bioethics''. The book responds to questions raised in scientific and medical ethics from the perspective of the Catholic moral tradition that is grounded in a natural law and virtue ethic. He has also spoken on numerous questions at the interface between science and religion. Most recently, he has proposed that the historicity of Adam and Eve can still be reconciled with the very best genomic science. Austriaco is currently a visiting professor of Biological Sciences at the

in the Philippines. As a fellow of the OCTA Research Team, he has been interviewed by Filipino TV channels on different aspects of COVID-19.

Research

In addition to his other work and publications, Austriaco is the founder and principal investigator of the Austriaco Lab. The laboratory is located at

and is primarily an undergraduate research laboratory that investigates

cell death Cell death is the event of a biological cell ceasing to carry out its functions. This may be the result of the natural process of old cells dying and being replaced by new ones, as in programmed cell death, or may result from factors such as di ...

using the budding yeast, ''

'', as a model organism. Because of the pandemic, the lab has pivoted to developing a yeast based delivery platform for a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

vaccine that can be easily deployed in developing countries.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Austriaco, Nicanor University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni American people of Filipino descent American microbiologists 20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Living people Catholic clergy scientists 1968 births