As a Puerto Rican, I know that many of our communities are still suffering from the devastation caused by Hurricane María on September 20, 2017. Post-storm headlines highlighted increased mold and asthma spikes. But difficulties breathing in Puerto Rico are not new: the island can literally take your breath away. Puerto Ricans are disproportionately affected…
Dr. Filipa Godoy speaks about the human microbiome at the 60th annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsycopharmacology, study group on Microbiome in Brain Health and Diseases Across the Lifespan: Exciting New Directions for Integrative Research in Diverse Populations The meeting took place at the Puerto Rico Convention Center San Juan, Puerto Rico, December…
The Department of Microbiology celebrates the great work of faculty and graduate students awarded 1st and 3rd places of the Robert Larus Award of the AAAS Caribbean Division annual meeting 2021. Dr. Benjamin Bolaños received an hommage to his lifelong work on aerobiology and presented an outstanding conference followed by a reactor panel of experts…
The Caribbean Division of AAAS will dedicate the 2021 annual meeting “After COVID-19:Impact of Air Quality on Human Health”, to the work of Dr. Bolaños, Director of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology Puerto Rico stations (PR-AAI). Dr. Bolaños studies the mycology and aerobiology of Puerto Rico, focusing on improving the quality of…
MAKING THE CASE FOR EQUITY IN MICROBIOME SCIENCE Microbiome research is being applied to important global challenges like pandemic preparedness, infectious disease prevention, climate change, and food security. This research is currently concentrated in a few resource-rich countries (1) which limits the field in several ways. The best solutions to these global challenges come from…
Dr. Carlos Sariol Investigadores de la Escuela de Medicina del Recinto de Ciencias Médicas (RCM) de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (UPR) han encontrado por primera vez características de la respuesta inmune al COVID-19 en Puerto Rico. El grupo de investigadores, -liderado por el Dr. Carlos Sariol, Investigador y Director de la Unidad de Medicina…
El doctor Orestes Quesada, de la Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, del Recinto de Río Piedras de la Universidad de Puerto Rico (RR-UPR), recibió una subvención de $1.25 millones, para el desarrollo de la propuesta “University of Puerto Rico SEPA STEM Asthma Awareness Program” de parte del Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) y los Institutos Nacionales…
Sea urchins play a critical role in marine ecosystems, as they actively participate in maintaining the balance between coral and algae. We performed the first in-depth survey of the microbiota associated with four free-living populations of Caribbean sea urchins: Lytechinus variegatus, Echinometra lucunter, Tripneustes ventricosus, and Diadema antillarum. We compared the influence of the collection site, echinoid species and…
Una tercera dosis de refuerzo de las vacunas administradas contra el coronavirus se precisó durante esta semana como medida más eficaz de prevención. Muchos han sentido duda e incertidumbre, en torno a si se deben vacunar con esta tercera dosis y cuándo debe tener lugar la inoculación. La doctora Loyda Meléndez, profesora de virología y microbiología de la Escuela de Medicina del Recinto de Ciencias Médicas, explica el propósito de la nueva medida preventiva y sobre todo alienta a la población a estar vigilante. Se está recomendando una tercera vacuna contra el Covid? “En efecto los CDC recomendaron el viernes 13 de agosto que todos los inmunosuprimidos que fueron inmunizados con Moderna o Pfizer recibieran una tercera dosis de la vacuna” ¿Para quienes es esta vacuna? “Estos son pacientes con baja respuesta…
Se ha publicado hoy un articulo en que colaboraron investigadores de Ciencias Básicas del Recinto de Ciencias Medicas con el grupo de la Dra. Monetamyor (UCC) e investigadores de HIMA-San Pablo Bayamón y del Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Los laboratorios del RCM involucradps fueron el de la Dra. Godoy, el Dr. Baerga y la…