01
Study the problem.
Before changing a cell, an athlete, or a room, I try to understand what is actually happening.
Scientist · Athlete · Coach
Orry Elor
Functional-genomics PhD · Greco-Roman wrestler · Coach
I'm a functional-genomics PhD candidate in the Ahituv Lab at UCSF, a Greco-Roman wrestler training toward the 2028 Trials, a coach, and a cofounder of The Mat Association. Most weeks move between the bench, the mat, and community work.
Right now
Thesis experiments in the Ahituv Lab, a Greco-Roman block aimed at the 2028 Trials, and Saturday sessions with The Mat Association. Same week, three rooms.
Throughline
The same work, in different rooms.
Science, wrestling, coaching, and nonprofit work used to feel like separate lanes. The longer I do them, the more they feel like one practice in different environments.
02
Measure the result.
In the lab, change one element and read the result. On the mat, change posture, timing, pressure, or habits and see what holds.
03
Share what helped.
Coaching and The Mat Association are where experience becomes something useful for someone else.
Science
Functional genomics in regulatory DNA.
I design and build synthetic regulatory DNA to study how genes are controlled, the regulatory layer inside the ~98% of the genome that doesn't code for protein. In the Nadav Ahituv Lab at UCSF that means building constructs, perturbing them with CRISPR, and reading out the result by sequencing. Change one thing, measure what moves.
Sport
Greco-Roman and the road to 2028.
Nearly two decades on the mat, in a few lines. The full timeline's on the story page.
- 2010
Junior Greco Nationals: 1st
Greco national title in Fargo.
- 2014
University Nationals: 1st
University national champ at 98 kg (2014); runner-up in 2015 and 2016.
- 2016
Olympic Team Trials: 4th
Fourth at the 2016 Olympic Team Trials at 98 kg: the closest I’ve come.
- 2023
Senior Nationals: 7th
Back at the senior level at 97 kg after time away.
- 2028
The road to 2028
A training block pointed at the next Trials cycle.
Latest
Recent writing & training notes.
- Writing
Road to 2028
What I'll write about as I train for 2028, and why I won't dress it up.
- Writing
The dark genome and the mat
Why the genomics lab and the wrestling room feel like the same work to me.
- Writing
What a good room gives back
What the best wrestling rooms gave me, and what I want The Mat Association to pass on.
- Writing
Nutrition without performance theater
How I track nutrition without turning it into a numbers obsession.
Get in touch.
Jobs, collaborations, sponsorship, and press all come through the same form, straight to me.