Filipa Godoy-Vitorino
University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences, PR·Microbiology & Immunology
The communities of bacteria and fungi living on and in the human body, together called the microbiome, can shape health and disease. Two lines of work fall under this PI's grants.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Genetics
- Topics
microbiome
cervical cancer
human papillomavirus
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Mar 2030
What they work on
- Compare bacterial and fungal communities and metabolites in cervicovaginal samples from more than 300 women with or without cervical dysplasia (precancerous cell changes) and high-risk HPV.
- Identify bacterial and fungal strains, gene pathways and metabolites that distinguish women who progress to high-grade dysplasia, using shotgun metagenomics in 200 women followed over time.
- Test whether combined microbiome, metabolome and cytokine profiles predict cervical disease better than HPV risk status alone.
- Establish a Microbiome Research Core that offers sample handling, DNA, RNA and metabolite isolation, study design support and microbiome data analysis to researchers across Puerto Rico.
- Support three junior investigators studying microbiome-driven processes in mental health, seizure disorders and oral cancer, through mentoring, cores and training in microbiome science.
More about the research
One builds a center and shared core facility so that researchers in Puerto Rico can do microbiome science. The other asks whether the microbes of the cervix and vagina help explain why some infections with human papillomavirus (HPV) last for years and lead to cervical cancer. Puerto Rico has the highest age-adjusted rate of cervical cancer in the US.
Why it matters
Puerto Rico has the highest age-adjusted cervical cancer incidence in the US, even with vaccination. Microbial and immune markers that predict which HPV infections will progress could help identify high-risk women earlier and point to new cofactors to target. Building a microbiome core in Puerto Rico could expand local capacity to study microbiome links to mental health, seizure disorders and oral cancer.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
John Luque
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, FL·Public Health & Epidemiology
Update a previously tested small-media promotora program of pamphlets and videos to improve Hispanic women's knowledge, beliefs and risk perception about cervical cancer and human papillomavirus (HPV).
Omar Harfouch
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Compare HPV16-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells, immune markers and L1 antibodies in blood between people with high estradiol/low testosterone and the reverse, using flow cytometry, stratified by HIV status.
D. Moon
Tulane University of Louisiana, LA·Public Health & Epidemiology
Test implementation best practices for a Screen & Treat program that uses self-collected HPV DNA testing, delivered within HIV care and treatment services at selected health facilities in Mozambique.
The school
University of Puerto Rico-Medical Sciences: 3 labs on PI Pages, $61M a year on research, 10 research doctorates a year.
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