EDUCATION:

• BS Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico
• Ph. D. Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of California in San Diego (UCSD)
• Royal Society Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

RESEARCH INTEREST:

• My research interests can be broadly defined as “Studies of Enzymes and Proteins of Clinical Interest”. 1) My laboratory has detected the presence of genes in the human gut that encode enzymes that induce intestinal inflammation. Current projects involve the production of these gut bacterial enzymes with the goal of elucidating the exact mechanism by which they promote inflammation in human tissues. 2) I currently direct efforts for the development of a preventive HIV vaccine that could result in the first vaccine developed in Puerto Rico. A number of analytical methods have been developed for the assessment of vaccine quality based on aggregation, oligomeric state and glycosylation. 3) I also direct the Center for Tropical Biodiversity, an initiative of the Puerto Rico Science Technology and Research Trust to develop chemical and biological products derived from unique species from Puerto Rico’s rich biodiversity.

PUBLICATIONS: