Luis Rodriguez-Rodriguez

Luis Alberto Rodríguez grew up in Toa Alta, Puerto Rico, which is located in the north side of the Island. Like all the “Boricuas”, he loves to go to the beach, eat latino food and spend time with his friends and family.

Luis attended college at the University of Puerto Rico, Arecibo Campus, where he graduated with a Bachelor in Science with a major in Microbiology. During college, he had the opportunity to do undergraduate research, where he began to discover a particular interest in biomedical science research applied to microbiology. After completing his Bachelor's Degree, Luis started an NIH-PREP program at the University of Georgia for one year. During that year, he joined the Rajao-Perez Laboratory as a PREP scholar and worked on developing live attenuated influenza virus vaccine platforms.

After confirming his interest in conducting research in biomedical sciences with a focus on microbiology, Luis applied and was accepted to the molecular microbiology Ph.D. program at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Luis joined the Forsberg Lab, where he will be using functional selections to uncover a new co-evolutionary arms race between bacteria and phages. 

Outside of lab, Luis likes to hike and visit new state forest parks with his friends. He likes to cook Puerto Rican food and try different types of cuisine.  Additionally, he doesn't like coffee and tends to clean his car when he is bored.