Dr. Yisel M. Cantres Rosario is an Assistant Professor at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR)-Medical Sciences Campus. She earned a B.S. in Biology at the UPR-Río Piedras Campus and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Medical Zoology at the UPR-Medical Sciences Campus, where she studied the role of HIV-infected macrophage-derived proteins in neuronal dysfunction under the mentorship of Dr. Loyda Meléndez. She then completed postdoctoral training in translational/clinical research with Dr. Valerie Wojna, funded by a Diversity Supplement, investigating the soluble insulin receptor in extracellular vesicles as a potential blood biomarker of cognitive impairment in people living with HIV; together, they developed another grant to study astrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles as biomarkers of cognitive decline. With support from the Congruent Mentorship to Reach Academic Diversity (COMRADE) Program, she also developed a brain organoid system to model how patient-derived immune cells contribute to neuronal dysfunction in vitro, now a valuable model for HIV research in her lab. In 2021, she obtained the NINDS Advanced Postdoctoral Career Transition K22 Award to understand the contribution of innate immune cell responses to neurodegeneration, and returned to the Microbiology and Immunology Department as Assistant Professor in 2023. Her research program focuses on neuroimmune interactions in infectious diseases, aging, neurodegeneration, and brain tumors, and now extends to the interplay between oral pathogens, the peripheral immune system, and neuronal function. She mentors undergraduate, graduate, and medical students on various research projects and is deeply committed to empowering trainees and supporting the career development of the next generation of scientists in Puerto Rico.

Email: yisel.m.cantres@upr.edu