Dr. Eva N. Rodríguez-Cruz obtained a bachelor's degree in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras (UPR-RP) in 2003. During her master’s degree in UPR-RP, Dr. Rodríguez-Cruz studied the effects of phosphorylation on various components of the Nonsense - Mediated mRNA Decay (NMD) regulatory mechanism. Specifically, she developed a research project on identifying a protein kinase involved in this RNA surveillance mechanism in yeast. For her Ph.D. in Biology, her dissertation developed and characterized an EF-Hand Domain containing-2 protein knockout (Efhd2-/-) mouse. She has co-authored six peer-reviewed articles, and her expertise includes animal models, molecular cloning, biochemistry, and neurobiology.