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Albersy Armina-Rodriguez is a
microbiology senior student at UPRA. She
participated as a PR-LSAMP scholar and
as a research assistant for microbiology
department. In 2009 she was accepted in
HACU National Internship Program
working at Winchester Engineering and
Analytical Center-Food and Drug
Administration (WEAC-FDA). Her second
summer internship experience was at
Michigan State University (MSU) working in Biological
Conversion Research Laboratory (BCRL), sponsor by MI-
LSAMP. In 2011, she performed research in the Microbiology
Research Unit in the Food Safety and Toxicology Center at
MSU.
Nicole M. Vega-Cotto earned her BS in
Microbial Technology in 2009 from the
University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo (UPRA).
Currently, she is enrolled in the University of
Puerto Rico-Mayaguez-to-UMDNJ (University
of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey)
Bridge to the Doctorate Program where she
is pursuing a PhD in Molecular Biosciences.
In 2010 she participated in the RISE & REU
Symposium Poster Session at Rutgers University in Piscataway
Campus, New Jersey. While at UPRA, she presented the
results of her research work in the 28 th Latinoamerican
Chemistry Congress [Federación Latinoamericana de Química]
at the Convention Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in July
2008.
Sergio J. Cardona-Gonzalez is a thirdyear
medical student at the Universidad
Autónoma de Guadalajara (UAG) in México.
He is currently participating in the Medicine
at the Community Program working on a
research in smoking complications and its
influences on diabetes mellitus. He
completed his BT in Industrial Chemical
Processes in 2009. While at UPRA, Sergio
did research in chemistry and biology, being
awarded for his presentations at national
and international meetings. Since his first year he was an active
leader at UPRA being the president of the UPRA Student
Council and the ACS Student Affiliates Chapter.
Melanie Quintana-Serrano is a senior student
studying microbiology at UPRA. She
participated in the Integrated Biological
Sciences-Summer Research Program (IBS-
SRP) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
where she did her research in Thomas Martin’s
Lab from the Department of Biochemistry. She
was sponsored by the 2011 FASEB MARC
Summer Research Opportunity Program. She
worked on a project identifying and
characterizing inhibitors for the process of regulated exocytosis in
mast cells. By conducting this research, a lead compound could
contribute for the development of new therapeutic methods for
inflammatory diseases.
Alba Katiria González- Rivera is an
undergraduate student of Microbiology
Technology at UPRA. She has participated in
three summer research internship programs
and one year internship program at different
universities including the University of
Wisconsin-Madison under the Integrated
Biological Sciences Summer Research
Program (IBS-SRP), Michigan State University
and the University of North Carolina-Chapel
Hill. She has presented the results of her research work in local,
regional and national scientific meetings. She was awarded for an
outstanding poster presentation in the area of biophysics
research at the SACNAS conference in 2010. She is looking
forward to complete a PhD program in Biophysics or
Neuroscience.
Dr. Dalynés Reyes-Colón completed a PhD
in Anatomy at the University of Puerto Rico,
Medical Sciences Campus in May 2010. For
her research as a graduate student, she
studied the neural basis of aggressive
behavior, using as a model-system the
freshwater prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii.
Part of her research data was published in
two peer-reviewed journals: J. Comp. Neurol
and Brain Research. Currently, Dr. Reyes-
Colón works at UPRA as an Assistant
Professor for the Anatomy, Physiology, Histology, and Biology
courses. As an undergraduate from UPRA, she participated as a
PR-LSAMP tutor and mentor. Her research project in plant
bioremediation was sponsored by PR-LSAMP.
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