People

Program: Evolutionary and Population Biology

Graduation Year: 1999

Thesis Advisor: Alan R. Templeton

Thesis Title: "Separating historical from ecological forces shaping the evolution of the cactophilic fruit flies Drosophila serido and D. buzzatii in Brazil"

Program affiliation
Immunology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology
Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Research summary
Molecular mechanisms at the host-pathogen interface

Key words
biochemistry, structural biology, signaling, virology, host pathogen interactions, immunology

Program affiliation
Molecular Cell Biology
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology

Research summary
The Riera Lab uses a multidisciplinary approach to investigate how biochemical and biomechanical signaling from the ovary regulates folliculogenesis and oocyte quality, and whether these mechanisms are altered in reproductive-associated diseases such as PCOS and aging.

Key words
Female reproduction, mechanobiology, ovary, folliculogenesis, reproductive aging, oocyte quality

Program: Molecular Cell Biology

Current advisor: Rotating in the lab of Chun-Kan Chen, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of Philippines, 2022

Program: Molecular Microbiology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Graduation Year: 1997

Thesis Advisor: Charles C. Rice

Thesis Title: Characterization of the Proteolytic Processing of the Yellow Fever Virus Capsid Protein

Program: Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology

Current advisor: David M. Ornitz, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of California-Berkeley Extension, 2019

Program: Immunology

Graduation Year: 2024

Thesis Advisor: Robert D. Schreiber

Thesis Title: Cellular and molecular basis of CD4+ T cell help at the effector phase during immunotherapy of MHC-II negative tumors

Program: Molecular Genetics and Genomics

Graduation Year: 2014

Thesis Advisor: Katherine N. Weilbaecher

Thesis Title: Contribution of the Microenvironment in Bone Resident Cancer: the Role of Thrombospondin-1 in Bone and Risk Loci Contributing to Multiple Myeloma

Program affiliation
Neurosciences
Developmental Regenerative and Stem Cell Biology
Molecular Cell Biology
Immunology
Biochemistry Biophysics and Structural Biology

Research summary
Our research investigates the role of the innate immune system in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases and the processes of brain aging, employing stem cell-based platforms and transgenic mouse models to study mechanisms of neuroimmune interactions in the brain.

Key words
Neurodegeneration, Innate Immunity, Aging

Program: Neurosciences

Current advisor: Keith B. Hengen, PhD

Undergraduate university: Washington University, 2020