Francisco Gomez-Rivera, MSc

Francisco Gomez-Rivera is the first in his family to pursue a graduate education in Science. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Natural Science with a major in Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Puerto Rico at Ponce. In 2017, he graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio with a Master’s degree in Microbiology and Immunology. During his training as a master's student, Francisco studied how TNFR2 promotes neuroprotection during chronic autoimmune neuroinflammation in the context of HLA-DR2b in Dr. Thomas G. Forsthuber laboratory. In 2018, he had the distinct honor of being nominated by PIBS and the Graduate Program in Immunology for the Rackham Merit Fellowship (RMF) award. Francisco is a training member in multiple associations including the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). His future plans include spearheading a research laboratory with an active and original research program in infectious diseases, while also being an academic professor helping to shape the newer generations of young scientists in STEM.

Francisco joined Dr. Kathleen Collins lab in spring 2019 to study the HIV latency in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and the development of new therapeutic approaches to promote immune-mediated clearance of HIV reservoirs.

Rackham Graduate Student Pre-Candidate Research Grant (2020)

Rackham Merit Fellowship (2018)

National Institute of General Medical Sciences & FASEB Minority Trainee Award (2017)

Abstracts published in Scientific Journal

1. Gomez-Rivera F, Raphael I, Forsthuber TG, (2017) Signaling via TNFR2 mediates CNS remyelination in EAE through regulation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. J Immunol,198 (1 Supplement) 219.4
2. Raphael I, Gomez-Rivera F, Huizar CC, Gupta R, Arulanandam B, and Forsthuber TG, (2017) A serum CNS-specific protein fingerprint predictive of clinical relapses and disease development of multiple sclerosis. J Immunol 198 (1 Supplement) 219.17
3. Raphael I, Chase C, Gomez-Rivera F, and Forsthuber T.G., (2016) A predictive disease-specific protein biomarker fingerprint for clinical relapses and glucocorticoids treatment of multiple sclerosis J Immunol, 196 (1 Supplement) 139.8
4. Gomez-Rivera F, Raphael I, and Forsthuber TG, (2015). A Novel Mouse Model to Study Chronic-Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Abstract, The FASEB Journal vol. 29 no. 1 Supplement 888.20 April 2015
5. Gomez-Rivera F, Wang Y, and Tang L, (2014). Functionalization of gold nanorod-based immunosensors for label-free bio-detection with high sensitivity and specificity Abstract, The FASEB Journal vol 28 no.1 Supplement 780.7 April 2014

Raphael I, Webb J, Gomez-Rivera F, Chase Huizar CA, Gupta R, Arulanandam BP, Wang Y, Haskins WE and Forsthuber TG (2017) Serum Neuroinflammatory Disease-Induced Central Nervous System Proteins Predict Clinical Onset of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis. Front. Immunol. 8:812. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00812