Dr. José F. Rodríguez Orengo
Contact Info
Education
- NSF Post Doctoral Fellowship, 1991
Cornell University - Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), 1989
Texas A&M University - Bachillerato en Ciencias (Química), 1985
UPR Río Piedras - Master in Public Health, 2022
University of Puerto Rico, RCM
Dr. José F. Rodríguez-Orengo is Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine at the University of Puerto Rico and has more than 25 years of experience in higher education and scientific research with more than 80 peer-reviewed articles (basic, clinical, public health). He is the leader of the student activities of the Puerto Rico IDeA Network for Biomedical Research where more than 500 students have participated actively in the program. He is also Senior Consultant for the Puerto Rico Science, Technology, and Research Trust and Executive Director of the PR Public Health Trust. He was Executive Director at the Puerto Rico Institute of Forensic Sciences where he completed a radical transformation using lean-six-sigma to increase productivity and improve the quality of the processes. He was Acting Chancellor at the UPR-Medical Sciences Campus that transformed the IT system to benefit the educational and research endeavors. With a research group of UPR-Medical Sciences Campus’ Professors, he is one of the founder members of MBQ Pharma, the first Pharmaceutical Company developing anticancer products patented by the UPR. He was awarded in 2019 the Osvaldo Ramirez Award, the highest distinction for a chemist in Puerto Rico. He has the vision of integration and collaboration among different entities towards a common goal of promoting Puerto Rico as a premier site for research.
Research Interests
A. Gene Discovery: Most of the research in this area involves theuse of state of the art molecular biology techniques such as the commonly known Differential Display Reverse Transcription -PCR (DDRT-PCR technique which identifies differentially expressed mRNA species; 5′ RACE PCR (for the isolation of full length cDNAs) and the use of Panhandle PCR (to retrieve genomic segments flanking a known DNA sequence (obtained from the full length cDNA).
- These techniques are being employed to isolate genes that are regulated by immunosuppressive drugs such as Dexamethasone and an antiglucocorticoid compound, Pregnenolone-16-a-carbonitrile. It is joint collaborative effort with Dr. Philip Guzelian (Univ. of Colorado). The ultimate goal of this research is to identify and study the regulation of new genes that may be associated with metabolism of xenobiotic compounds including environmental pollutants.
- This same approach is being used to isolate and identify genes that are associated with cancer (oncogenes). Most of the works performed on colorectal cancer oncogenes have been done on Caucasian and Japanese population, with little or no representation of the Hispanic population. Our research proposes to identify specific genes and isolate cDNA probes for colon cancer genes that may be expressed in the cancer patients from the Hispanic population and can eventually be used for diagnostics and treatment of cancer.
B. Environmental Toxicology: We are interested in identifying and studying genes that are affected by environmental pollutants (particularly from air). In collaboration with Dr. Carmen L. Cadilla
(UPR-MSC) and Dr. Ben Van Houten (Galveston, Tx) we are developing technologies to evaluate DNA integrity (Genotoxicity) using molecular toxicology techniques such as quantitative XL-PCR. We are studying DNA damage caused by pollutants in mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop a sensitive bioassay which could be used to evaluate environmental exposure in different populations.
Selected Publications:
- Associations Between Perceived Stress and Dietary Intake in Adults in Puerto Rico. López-Cepero A, O’Neill J, Tamez M, Falcón LM, Tucker KL, Rodríguez-Orengo JF, Mattei J.J Acad Nutr Diet. 2021 Apr;121(4):762-769. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2020.09.035. Epub 2020 Oct 24.PMID: 33109502
- Syndromic Surveillance in Puerto Rico During the COVID-19 Response: An Alternative Approach to Scarce Molecular Testing. Marzan-Rodriguez M, Morales LM, Martinez IS, Serrano RA, Mattei J, Rodriguez-Orengo JF, Thompson K.Am J Public Health. 2020 Sep;110(9):1348-1349. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2020.305805
- The association between purchasing locally produced food and diet quality among adults in Puerto Rico. Marrero A, Tamez M, Rodríguez-Orengo JF, Mattei J.Public Health Nutr. 2020 Sep 9:1-10. doi: 10.1017/S1368980020003134. Online ahead of print.PMID: 32900415
- Higher eating frequency, but not skipping breakfast, is associated with higher odds of abdominal obesity in adults living in Puerto Rico. Tamez M, Rodriguez-Orengo JF, Mattei J.