EMMANUEL VAZQUEZ-RIVERA

Undergraduate

2010 – BS in Applied Microbiology
Universidad del Este in Coralina, PR

Why I Joined METC

As an undergraduate, I had the opportunity to participate in a variety of research internship programs which helped me to understand that what I was actually interested in was toxicology. I was able to spend one of those summers here at UW-Madison and I quickly fell in love with the Institution. UW-Madison, is a world renowned research institution with the ideal environment to do my graduate studies. METC offered to me the multidisciplinary aspect that I was looking in science. I was very attracted to the way program combine different disciplines into a new exciting one, which we know as Molecular & Environmental Toxicology.

Research

Our laboratory is interested in a family of transcriptional regulators known as PAS proteins. Members of this emerging family of proteins control a number of processes, including xenobiotic metabolism, circadian rhythms, angiogenesis, and neurogenesis. Our laboratory specializes in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR), which is a member of the bHLH−PAS proteins involved in the regulation of xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes that occur in response to exposure to a variety of polycyclic aromatic environmental pollutants. AHR mediates a second battery of genes responsible for a number of “toxic effects” of dioxins, such as epithelial hyperplasia, immunosuppression, teratogenesis, and tumor promotion. To understand these proteins and their signal transduction pathways, we are focusing on the characterization of the AHR/ARNT pathway in genetically manipulable organisms such as mice and yeast.

I use yeast genetics as a method to identify genes that are required for signaling. In addition, the yeast system is proving valuable in modifier screens to identify novel components of the dioxin signaling pathway as well as a tool on the search for the endogenous ligand, and as a potential biosensor for AHR-specific ligands or AHR-mediated toxicity. Understanding the mechanism by which a carcinogen or toxicant acts, we will be able to make a much more accurate and valid assessment of the risk which that toxicant poses to human health and health of the ecosystem.

Awards

• 2013 NSF Graduate Research Fellow (Predoctoral Fellowship)
• 2013 Honorable mention – Ford Foundation Pre-doctoral Fellowship from the National Academies of Sciences
• 2013 Young Scientist Award – American Society for Microbiology
• 2011 Advanced Opportunity Fellowship (AOF) / Science & Medicine Graduate Research Scholars (SciMed GRS)

Publications

• Adnani N, Vazquez-Rivera E, Adibhatla SN, Ellis GA, Braun DR, Bugni TS. Investigation of the Interspecies Interactions within Marine Micromonosporaceae Using an Improved Co-Culture Approach. Mar Drugs. 2015 Sep 24; 13(10): 6082-98
• Zhang F, Adnani N, Vazquez-Rivera E, Braun DR, Tonelli M, Andes DR, Bugni TS. Application of 3D NMR for Structure Determination of Peptide Natural Products. J Org Chem. 2015 Sep 4;80(17):8713-9. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.5b01486
• Wyche TP, Hou Y, Vazquez-Rivera E, Braun D, Bugni TS. Peptidolipns B-F, Antibacterial Lipopeptides from an Ascidian-derived Nocardia sp. J. Nat. Prod., 2012, 75, 735−740.
• Hou Y, Tianero MDB, Kwan JC, Wyche TP, Michel CR, Ellis GA, Vazquez-Rivera E, Braun DR, Rose WE, Schmidt EW, and Bugni TS. Structure and Biosynthesis of the Antibiotic Bottromycin D. Org. Lett., 2012, 14 (19), pp 5050–50534
• Vazquez-Rivera E, Williams J., Watters J. and Johnson S.M. 2007. Activation and Migration after Insertion of Silicon Microelectrodes in Rodent Brain Slices. Journal of Center for Biology Education. 2007v:115-120.

Oral Presentations

• (Young Scientist Award) Vazquez-Rivera E, Adnani N, Hou Y., Broun D. and Bugni T. A Microscale Co-cultivation Approach to Induce Cryptic Antimicrobial Compounds from Marine Streptomyces spp. American Society for Microbiology (ASM) 2013 – 113th General Meeting, Denver, CO, May 18 – 21, 2013.
• Vazquez-Rivera E, Adnani N, Hou Y., Broun D. and Bugni T. Co-cultivation of Marine Bacteria to Investigate the Dynamics and Regulation of Secondary Metabolite Biosynthesis. GERS & SciMEd-GRS Annual Poster Session, 2012.
• Adnani N., Vazquez-Rivera E., Hou Y., Braun D., Bugni TS. Production of Unique Natural Products through Microscale Co-cultivation of Marine Bacteria. ICNPR-ASP. 2012.
• Wyche TP., Hou Y., Vazquez-Rivera E., Braun D., Bugni TS. Peptidolipins B-F, Actnobacterial Lipopeptides from a Marine-derived Nocardia sp. ICNPR-ASP. 2012.
• Vazquez-Rivera E, Adnani N, Hou Y., Broun D. and Bugni T. Co-cultivation of Marine Bacteria to Investigate the Dynamics and Regulation of Secondary Metabolite Biosynthesis. URGREAT-MBRS-RISE Seminar at Universidad del Este, Carolina, Puerto Rico. August 24, 2012.

Poster Presentations

• Vazquez-Rivera, E.; Adnani, N.; Hou, Y.; Braun, D.; Bugni, T.S. Co-cultivation of Marine Bacteria to Investigate the Dynamics and Regulation of Secondary Metabolite Biosynthesis. GERS & SciMEd-GRS Annual Poster Session at University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. November 2012.
• Hou Y.; Michel CR.; Vazquez-Rivera E.; Braun DR.; Wyche TP.; Adnani N.; Bugni TS. UHPLC/HRMS-Based Secondary Metabolomics for Rapid Analysis of Microbial Natural Products. ICNPR-ASP. New York. 2012.
• Wyche TP.; Hou Y.; Vazquez-Rivera E.; Braun D.; Bugni TS. Peptidolipins B-F, Actnobacterial Lipopeptides from a Marine-derived Nocardia sp. ICNPR-ASP. New York. 2012.
• Adnani N.; Vazquez-Rivera E.; Hou Y.; Braun D.; Bugni TS. Production of Unique Natural Products Through Microscale Co-cultivation of Marine Bacteria. ICNPR-ASP. New York. 2012.