The RIPLRT Institute studies how what people breathe shapes respiratory and immune health in Puerto Rico — and trains the scientists who will carry that work forward.
The RIPLRT Institute — the Respiratory and Immunology Project and Laboratory Research Team — leads collaborative, multi-cohort studies that combine biospecimens, wearable exposure assessment, molecular profiling, and AI/ML modeling to identify critical environmental risk windows and separate biological from non-biological drivers of respiratory disease.
Linking pollutant sources and concentrations to human behavior, the pollutant–host interaction, and the health outcome that follows — indoors, outdoors, and at work.
Human whole-blood and cell-based assays that quantify the inflammatory potential of real-world environmental samples, aligning biomarker profiles with measured exposures.
Reproducible R, Python, and MATLAB pipelines, with code and data shared through GitHub, OSF, FigShare, and Zenodo so that findings can be checked and reused.
Machine learning that respects biology: a compact protein signature that links plasma proteomics to immune-cell signaling and classifies COVID-19 severity.
J Biol Chem. 2026; 302(5):112618.
We prioritize training the next generation of researchers and health professionals. Mentees run projects end to end — from the laboratory bench and study design to analysis, writing, and presenting — with structured support at every step.
How we work together is written down in the RIPLRT Institute Research Group Manual — our mentoring compact, onboarding guide, authorship policy, and reproducibility standards in one place.
Laboratory technique, experimental design, documentation, data science
Scientific and grant writing, peer review, bilingual science communication
Project and budget management, teamwork, leadership
Career planning and a written mentoring compact
Undergraduate research fellow Adriana González-Candelaria (UPR Mayagüez) will present her NHANES analysis of recurrent wheeze burden and symptom–attack discordance in U.S. adults with current asthma at ABRCMS 2026 in Seattle, November 18–21.
RIPLRT collaborator Dr. Filipa Godoy-Vitorino, Professor and Chair of Microbiology and Immunology at the UPR Medical Sciences Campus, will receive the American Society for Microbiology's 2027 Award for Graduate Education.
RIPLRT mentee Emily Solomon earned her M.S. in Biological Sciences at Lynn University with a capstone thesis, advised by Dr. Rivera-Mariani, evaluating polygenic risk scores for endometriosis and early menopause.
We partner with clinicians, community organizations, and academic laboratories across Puerto Rico and the mainland United States. Tell us what you are working on.
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