Julio Andres Molina Pineda, PhD

Julio Molina Pineda is a postdoctoral researcher in the Reilly Lab starting October 2025 interested on how variation and evolution impact disease susceptibility. Born and raised in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Julio was awarded a Walton International Scholarship to pursue his undergraduate degree in the US. At University of the Ozarks, he doubled majored in Molecular Biology and Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics. He next completed his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology as a Doctoral Academy Fellow at University of Arkansas under Dr. Jeffrey Lewis. For his dissertation, Julio leveraged natural variation in wild yeast, genome engineering, transcriptomics, and genomics to model the genetic architecture of Parkinson's Disease susceptibility and identify novel causative variants. Alongside his research, he has a keen interest in science policy and advocates for increased awareness on the bioethical implications of modern genetic research.Outside of science, Julio enjoys playing and watching soccer, videogames of all kinds, riding his mountain bike/hiking, spending time with his pets, and pursuing the next hobby in the list.