.::My Bioblog::.

My current research is taking place at the monitoring station at Pueblo Forest in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. I’m studying the phyllosphere of the forest and comparing between trees the microbial diversity through a culture independent method. My mentor is Dr. Arturo A. Massol Deya.

I chose this project because is innovating and it has never been done in Puerto Rico. Researchers in Brazil have said that the phyllosphere, microorganisms associated to the surface of leaves, is way much complex than thought. So it is a road not taken so often and I’m very interested in what I will find along the way.

My lab experience has been awesome. I don’t only work in the lab. Every time I have to go sampling is an adventure. I’m out in the wild, in the forest, climbing trees and enjoying nature. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, so I’ve had the collaboration of people from Tri Beta, a student from the Interamerican University of San German, Anderai Maldonado, and the person who helped me to get started in my project, Ernie X. Perez. All along in my research experience I’ve learned how important group work it is. At the Tropical Microbial Ecology Lab we are a huge family and we look out for each other and help each other very much. Thanks to all of them I’ve learned all the molecular and statistical techniques to carry out my research. It has been a wonderful experience and I wouldn’t change for anything.

My goals are to compare the results I obtained a year ago to the results I’m about to obtain by the end of this semester.

(1)Anderai Malonado and I

(2) Ernie Pérez and I