minerva rodriguez

I’m a neuroscientist with a Ph.D. in Psychology (Behavioral Neuroscience emphasis) and 5+ years in rodent models and molecular neuroscience.

My work centers on autophagy and neurodegeneration, and my thesis research was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

In the Dr. Sergio D. Iñiguez Lab at The University of Texas at El Paso, I designed and executed in vivo stress, autophagy, and neurodegeneration studies, including thesis work supported by in vivo pharmacology and stereotaxic surgery.

I quantify LC3-II, Beclin-1, and phosphorylated tau in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex using ELISA, Western blotting, and RT-PCR, alongside protein extraction and RNA/DNA isolation.

I’m also strong in behavioral neuroscience, running paradigms assessing cognition, sociability, and affect—such as the social interaction test, elevated plus maze, conditioned place preference, and Morris water maze.

I mentored and trained undergraduate researchers in behavioral testing, molecular methodologies, and data analysis, and I take pride in clear scientific communication through protocols, reports, and peer-review revisions.

I’ve published 11 peer-reviewed articles (2 as first author) and rely on practical data analysis tools like GraphPad Prism, ImageJ, and SPSS to turn results into credible, reproducible findings.

I’m driven to advance biomarker discovery and translational solutions for Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders.