Exploring Career Paths With Co-op Experiences
Joshua Piatok, E’25, bioengineering, with a minor in music performance, used his three co-ops to explore research fields in industry and academia. He also applied for a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue his research interests overseas.
Whether it’s the Billboard Top 100 songs or small-town artists, listening to music can evoke strong emotional and physical responses. Joshua Piatok, E’25, bioengineering, with a minor in music performance, feels that there is a potential intersection between music and the biomedical engineering field and wants to find out how.
“Bioengineering and music both make up a significant portion of my identity, but they have always been separate parts of my life. There’s no obvious connection there. I want to find a way to bridge two elements of my life that I am the most passionate about,” Piatok says.
Uncovering the intersection of the two proved to be more complicated than he thought. There is copious research on music’s psychological effects, but not as much on advancing biomedical engineering through music. But before setting out on this journey, Piatok wanted to determine the type of environment he preferred: a large pharmaceutical company, a small pharmaceutical company, or academia.
Finding his niche through co-op
For his first co-op, he applied to a small biotech company called Surface Oncology Incorporated—acquired by Coherus BioScience—where he worked as an immuno-oncology research assistant. The work culture was the most inspiring aspect of this role. The biotech company had about 80 employees, Piatok estimates. Everyone, including the CEO, had their desk in an open-concept common space. Piatok liked the connectivity within the company because he could reach out to anyone for help or advice.
Small companies, however, can be investment dependent. “My coworkers,” says Piatok, “told me there was more job security at big pharma companies because they have more resources to fund projects, and they can weather economic downturns.”
As such, Piatok, for his second co-op, took a position at Merck—a drug and vaccine development company with approximately 75,000 employees. While there, Piatok conducted research with anaerobic bacteria—microorganisms that thrive in the absence of oxygen—to study inflammatory conditions of the intestine. The company’s focus was on drug development, which wasn’t precisely Piatok’s interest.
“What excites me about bioengineering is not drug development. It’s the discovery side of things and the mechanistic biology of research.”
With small and big pharma not exactly the right fit for Piatok, he began searching for other career avenues. He turned to academia for guidance on pursuing a PhD and a career as a research scientist. As part of this exploration, he took a co-op at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. The lab researches the effects of different drugs in reducing the damage radiation inflicts on cells. They use 3D cell cultures called primary human organoids to simulate the damage and screen drugs.
The small team included people of different ages and backgrounds, and everyone was driven by a passion for the work and academic success. Some young scientists saw this work as an avenue for a PhD, others were looking to be published.
Piatok says, “I thrived in the small diverse team; I was more engaged and invested in the work. Being surrounded by ambitious and motivated people really brought out the best in me. This work dynamic scratched the itch my previous industry co-ops couldn’t.”
Capstone design
Now in his final semester, Piatok is working on his capstone project. He and his team are developing a rapid, cost-effective diagnostic device to detect sickle cell anemia in newborns using electrophoresis on cellulose acetate strips. To properly build and test the device, the team was awarded a Summit PEAK Experiences research grant from Northeastern’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Fellowships, giving them access to important components and reagents, including a high-voltage power source, platinum electrodes, synthetic hemoglobin peptides, and mouse blood modified to present sickled red blood cells.
Reaching further
But there was a piece still missing, a part of his identity cast aside. Music. How advanced was music-related bioengineering research, and who was doing this research? Piatok wanted to be a part of it, so he applied for a 2025 Fulbright scholarship, which would give him the ability to work on a project of his choosing. He is hoping to work at a lab in Germany that leverages ultrasound to locally release a drug in a targeted area. The idea is to restrict the effects of a toxic drug to an infected area, like chemotherapy to a tumor. Even though this research focuses on sound, not music, Piatok is excited about the potential.
“Maybe I won’t be able to combine music and engineering right now, but sound and bioengineering is still fascinating,” he says. For now, Piatok is preparing for his senior piano recital and performing with his band JammedAmp. Previously he played piano for the Northeastern Jazz Ensemble and the Northeastern Fusion Ensemble. He is also a member of Tau Beta Pi (the Engineering Honor Society).