Joe Spraker

Joe Spraker has worked in a variety of roles in the scientific and veterinary fields since 2005. In 2005, they began working as a Veterinary Technician at Pacific Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Services. In 2010, they became a Lab Technician at UC Santa Cruz, where they maintained and curated a large library of marine actinomycetes used for natural products research. In 2011, they became an NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they investigated the modes and outcomes of bacterial-fungal chemical communication. In 2016, they became an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Arizona School of Plant Sciences, where they investigated how interactions between leaf associated fungi and endohyphal bacteria impact resistance to plant pathogens. In 2018, they began working at Hexagon Bio in roles as a Scientist, Senior Scientist, and Principal Scientist in the Fungal Genetics/Sequencing the Earth department.

Joe Spraker earned a Bachelor of Science (BS) in Plant Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz between 2008 and 2010. Joe then went on to obtain a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Plant Pathology/Phytopathology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison between 2011 and 2016.