Ciencia Puerto Rico

I received my B.S. from University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. I obtained a Ph. D. in Cell and Developmental Biology at Vanderbilt University in the laboratory of Dr. Daniela Drummond-Barbosa. In the Drummond-Barbosa lab I used the Drosophila ovary as a model system to study the role of Drosophila alpha-endosulfine (endos), a highly conserved protein, in female meiosis. I discovered that endos is a key regulator of oocyte meiotic maturation. I am currently doing my postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Terry Orr-Weaver at the Whitehead Institute/MIT. My postdoctoral research studies aim to understand how Drosophila adult and larval cells switch to undergo developmentally programmed endocycles to become polyploid. In addition, I am deciphering how key signaling pathways control the maintenance of the endocycle.