John Beck grew up in Grand Rapids and was very excited to join the Counts laboratory in the fall of 2013. John did his undergraduate work at Hillsdale college, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in biology. Prior to becoming a Spartan, John spent over two decades at the University of Iowa. While there, he worked on projects that discovered the causal mutations for diseases such as Pendred syndrome and Bardet-Biedl syndrome. Current research interests include examining the genetics of neurodegenerative diseases by utilizing techniques such as laser capture microscopy, gene and miRNA expression profiling, ELISA, and immunohistochemistry. Away from the lab John enjoys reading, kayaking, following college football, and spending time with his two children.