EDUCATION
Michigan State University (MSU), East Lansing, MI
Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology (CMIB)
Environmental Toxicology
Dual major PhD focused in Neuroscience and Environmental Toxicology
(August 2010 – December 2016)
 
Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
Bridge to the PhD in Neuroscience Post-Baccalaureate Program
(September 2009 – May 2010)

Universidad del Este (UNE), Carolina, PR
Bachelor of Science in Applied Microbiology
(June 2009)
 
WORK/RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Postdoctoral Scholar
Genome Center (January 2017 - present). University of California Davis (UC Davis), CA: “Functional and genetic dissection of interconnected genes mutated in children with autism and epilepsy using zebrafish”. Mentor: Megan Dennis PhD, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, MIND Institute, UC Davis School of Medicine.

Graduate Research Assistant 
Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology Program; Environmental and Toxicological Sciences Program, (August 2010 – 2016). Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI: “Role of AMPA receptors on methylmercury-induced toxicity in spinal cord motor neurons”. Mentor: William D. Atchison PhD, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Committee members: Dr. Patricia Ganey, Dr. John Fyfe and Dr. Cynthia Jordan. 
​  
Post-baccalaureate Research Assistant
Bridge to the PhD in the Neuroscience Program (BPNP), Lifelong student (August 2009 – July 2010). Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI: “Ion channel gene transcription is affected differentially in rat cerebellum after postnatal methylmercury exposure”. Mentor: William D. Atchison PhD, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. 

Summer Internship
Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, Member (May 2009 – December 2009). Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI: “Expression of nerve membrane proteins in a naturally occurring Ca2+ channelopathy”. Mentor: William D. Atchison PhD, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology.
 
Undergraduate Researcher
Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement Program (MBRS-RISE), Member (April 2008 – April 2009). Universidad del Este, Carolina, PR.: “Application of the quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) for a rapid detection of potential exposure to waterborne pathogens in recreational waters of Puerto Rico”. 
 
Summer Internship
Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP), Member (May 2008 – August 2008). Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI: “Structure – function relation of the EpsG protein of Vibrio cholerae”. Mentor: Michael Bagdasarian MD. PhD, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
 
PROFESSIONAL/ STUDENT ASSOCIATIONS

• Association for Women in Science (AWIS), Professional member (February 2018- present)
• Northern California Society of Toxicology (NorCal SOT), Member (2017- present), Postdoctoral Representative (January 2018- present)
• Michigan Society for Neuroscience (MI-SFN), Member (2014 – 2016)
• MSU Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) (2014 - 2016)
• MSU College of Veterinary Medicine Committee on Diversity, Graduate student representative (May 2013 – May 2015)
• Michigan Society of Toxicology (MISOT), Member (2013 - 2016)
• Graduate Women in Science, Member (2012 - present)
• Mid-Michigan Graduate Women in Science (GWIS), Member (2012 - 2016), President (May 2015 - June 2016)
• Society for Advancement of Chicano/Latino and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), Member (2012 - present)
• SOT Special Interest Group Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists (HOT), Member (2011- present), Postdoctoral Representative (May 2018- present)
• SOT Special Interest Group Women in Toxicology (WIT), Member (2011- present) 
• Society of Toxicology (SOT), Member (July 2011 - present) 
• Society for Neuroscience (SFN), Member (September 2010 - present)

 
AWARDS

• Best Poster Presentation, UC Davis Human Genomics Symposium, Sacramento, CA, November 2018.
• SFN Science Advocacy Travel support for SFNs 2018 Capitol Hill Day visit, Washington, DC, March 2018.
• UC Davis Professors for the Future Fellowship, Davis, CA, March 2018 – March 2019.
• Scholarship to attend the Zebrafish Development and Genetics Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, August 2017.
• MSU AGEP Science Policy and Advocacy Travel Award to attend the 2016 AGEP Capitol Hill Day visit, Washington DC, February 2016.
• SOT Women in Toxicology Graduate Student Achievement Award, March 2015.
• AGEP NSF Scholar Award, February 2015.
• MSU Center for Integrative Toxicology NIEHS T32 Fellowship (T32ES007255-26), MI, 2014 - 2016.
• Science Communication Fellowship, National Science Foundation Portal to the Public Program, Detroit Zoological Society, Detroit, MI, October 2014.
• SFN Next Generation Award, co-recipient, August 2014.
• SFN Neuroscience Scholars Program Fellow, August 2014- July 2016.
• SOT Hispanic Organization of Toxicologists Travel Award for the 2014 Annual SOT Meeting, Phoenix, AZ. March 2014.
• SOT Perry J. Gehring Diversity Student Travel Award for the 2013 Annual SOT Meeting, San Antonio, TX. March 2013.
• Honorable Mention, SOT Perry J. Gehring Diversity Student Travel Award for the 2011 Annual SOT Meeting, Washington, DC. March 2011. 

​​
ABSTRACTS/ RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS
POSTER 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, K. Burbach, E. Ferino, P. Lein, L.E. Jao, F. Hormozdiari, M.Y. Dennis. Using CRISPR gene editing of kcnb1 in zebrafish to understand its role in epilepsy. UC Davis Human Genomics Symposium. Sacramento, CA. November 17, 2017. 

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, K. Burbach, E. Ferino, P. Lein, L.E. Jao, M.Y. Dennis. Using zebrafish as a tool to model patient mutations of kcnb1 and its role in epilepsy. 2nd Northern California Fish Research Symposium. Davis, CA. August 22, 2017.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, N. Colón-Carrión, W. D. Atchison. Methylmercury alters intracellular calcium concentrations in human-induced pluripotent stem cell motor neurons in a concentration dependent manner. SOT 2017 Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. March 13, 2017.

 

• A. Colón-Rodriguez, W. D. Atchison. Acute methylmercury exposure leads to alterations in AMPA and NMDA receptor expression in the motor neuron NSC34 cell line. SFN 2016 Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. November 13, 2016.

 

•  A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela, W. D. Atchison. Contribution of AMPA receptors in methylmercury-induced cell death in the motor neuron NSC34 cell line, SOT 2016 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. March 14, 2016.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, E. S. Rodriguez-Tapia, C. T. Tiernan, W. D. Atchison. Bridge to Neuroscience Workshop: taking neuroscience to high school and undergraduate students in Puerto Rico, SFN 2015 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL. October 17-18, 2015.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela and W. D. Atchison. In vivo methylmercury exposure alters glutamate receptor mRNA levels in rat forebrain. SOT 2015 Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. March 24, 2015.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela and W. D. Atchison. Brain region-dependent effects of methylmercury on expression of ligand- & voltage-gated calcium channels in rat. SFN 2014 Annual Meeting, Washington. DC. November 16, 2014.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, Brain region dependent effects of methylmercury on expression of ligand and voltage-gated calcium channels in rat. SOT 2014 Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ. March 25, 2014.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, A. L. Perez Medina, W. D. Atchison. Postnatal methylmercury exposure alters glutamate receptor mRNA expression in rat spinal cord. SFN 2013 Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA. November 11, 2013.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela, W. D. Atchison. Comparative study of the effects of postnatal methylmercury exposure on the expression of ligand-gated and voltage-gated Ca2+ channels in rat cerebellum. Cellular & Molecular Mechanisms of Toxicity, Gordon Research Conference, Proctor Academy, Andover, NH. August 12-13, 2013.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela, S. Escudero, Y. Yuan, W. D. Atchison. Low dose postnatal methylmercury exposure alters mRNA levels of rat brainstem glutamate receptors and voltage gated calcium channels. SOT 2013 Annual Meeting. San Antonio, TX. March 13, 2013.

 

• C. T. Tiernan, A. Colón-Rodríguez, E. S. Rodríguez-Tapia, C. Dams, B. D. Hammond, C. R. Hutch, H. N. Kerver, B. M. Marrero-Rosado, W. D. Atchison. Bridge to the Ph.D. in Neuroscience: A platform to increase Hispanic representation in neuroscience research. SFN 2012 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. October 16, 2012.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela, W. D. Atchison. Effects of chronic methylmercury exposure on mRNA expression of ligand and voltage gated ion channels in cerebellum and forebrain of adult mice. SFN 2012 Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA. October 16, 2012.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela, and W. D. Atchison. Effects of chronic postnatal methylmercury exposure on the expression of GABAA receptor subunits in mouse cerebellum. SOT 2012 Annual meeting, San Francisco, CA. March 12, 2012.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela, Y. Yuan and W. D. Atchison. Ion channel gene transcription is affected differentially in rat cerebellum after postnatal methylmercury exposure. SOT 2011 Annual meeting, Washington, DC. March 8, 2011.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez, R. K. Hajela, W. D. Atchison. Expression of nerve membrane proteins in a naturally occurring Ca+2 channelopathy. Ronald E. McNair Undergraduate Research Symposium, East Lansing, MI. August 5, 2009.

 
ORAL

• A. Colón-Rodríguez. Neuroscience Outreach in Puerto Rico: Impact of the Next Generation Award, SFN 2015 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL. October 18, 2015.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez. Comparative effects of methylmercury on expression of ligand-gated and voltage-gated calcium channels in rat cerebellum and brainstem. NEURAL Conference, Birmingham, AL. June 25, 2015.

 

• A. Colón-Rodríguez. MSU AGEP Community Meeting. Methylmercury toxicity and motor neuron degeneration. Why do we care? East Lansing, MI. September 2014.

 
SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

• Effects of methylmercury on spinal cord afferents and efferents – A review. A. Colón-Rodríguez, H. E. Hannon, and W. D. Atchison. Neurotoxicology. In press, Dec 2016.

 

• Evaluating a Gene-Environment Interaction in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Methylmercury Exposure and Mutated SOD1. J. M. Bailey, A. Colón-Rodríguez, and W. D. Atchison. Current Environmental Health Reports. In press, April 2017. 

​

• Acute methylmercury exposure alters intracellular calcium concentrations in human induced pluripotent stem cell motor neurons through AMPA receptors. A. Colón-Rodríguez, N. M. Colón-Carrión, and W. D. Atchison. In review.  ​

 

• Bridge to Neuroscience Workshop: An effective educational tool to introduce principles of neuroscience and reinforce participation of Hispanic students in neuroscience-related research. A. Colón-Rodríguez, E. S. Rodríguez-Tapia, C. T. Tiernan, and W. D. Atchison. In review.

 

• Low level methylmercury exposure alters steady state levels of ion channel mRNA in the cerebellum and brainstem of the developing rat. A. Colón-Rodríguez, Y. Yuan, and W. D. Atchison. In progress.

 
MENTORING EXPERIENCE
*I designed an independent research project and supervised the progress of 20 students since 2011. The last six mentees are shown below.

Summer 2018 - Present - Aditya Sriram, Undergraduate student in Genetics and Genomics at the University of California Davis. 

Spring 2017 – Summer 2018- Maram Bader, Undergraduate student from the University of California Davis. 

Spring 2017 – Summer 2017- Ipek Midillioglu, High School student from the Davis High School. 

Summer 2015 and Fall 2016- Nicole Colón-Carrión, Undergraduate student from the University of Puerto Rico-Cayey. 

Summer 2016  

• Jenna Baker, B.S. - Undergraduate student from Illinois Wesleyan University.
• Doris Olekanma - Undergraduate student from Michigan State University Neuroscience Program.

 
TEACHING EXPERIENCE

• Instructor – NSM90, Biomedical Research Seminar, California State University- Sacramento, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, January-May 2019.
• Instructor - Microbiology course, Vetward Bound Enrichment Summer Program, College of Veterinary Medicine, MSU, Summers 2012 - 2015. 
• Lecture PHM 480 Neurobiology of Disease course - Creutzfeldt Jakob disease: An infectious disease of the nervous system, December 2013.
• Lecture PHM 480 Neurobiology of Disease course - Infectious diseases: Lyme disease and bacterial meningitis, December 2012. 

 
SELECTED OUTREACH ACTIVITIES AND LEADERSHIP ROLES

• Organized and lead- UC Davis for Puerto Rico which focused on coordinating hurricane María Relief Efforts at Davis, California for Puerto Rico. September 2017 – present.
  • Led and organized the GoFundMe page to fundraise for Puerto Rico as well as the local fundraising events for this initiative. More information about this initiative can be found here and here. 
  • Was part of a group of nine Puerto Rican faculty who worked with UC Davis administrators for the development of an effort that led UC Davis supporting Puerto Rican scholars to visit and work at the institution for a quarter. 
• Member- SFN Trainee Advisory Committee- November 2016 – present. 
  • This committee’s goal is to assist SfN in supporting neuroscience trainee development and enhancing the trainee members’ experience.
• Lead expo volunteer MSU Science Festival- March – April 2016.
• President- Mid-Michigan Graduate Women in Science. May 2015 – June 2016. 
• Chalk talk facilitator and writing coach- MSU Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP), East Lansing, MI. Summer 2014 – 2016.
  • For three summers, I served as a graduate student facilitator which consisted of meeting weekly with a group of ~12 summer interns and give them feedback on their research and their scientific presentations. I also served as a writing coach for these scholars and gave them feedback on their scientific paper, cv, personal statement and scientific posters. 
• Peer mentor- SOT Undergraduate Education Program. SOT Annual Meeting. 2011– 2018.
  • I served as a peer mentor in a 3-day program for underrepresented minority undergraduate students that are in the biological sciences and would like to learn about the area of toxicology and graduate school. As peer mentors, we give advice about applying and being productive/successful in graduate school, teach about what type of careers/professions you can pursue as a toxicologist and serve as a guide in the annual meeting while teaching students the different areas of toxicology.
• Co-Chair- Mid-Michigan Graduate Women in Science, Girls Math and Science Day, East Lansing, MI. 2015 and 2016. 
  • Girls Math and Science Day is a free half a day of hands-on math, science and engineering activities for middle school girls. I co-coordinated this event and oversaw the finance, logistics, presenters’ recruitment and advertisement of the event for two years. 
• Designed and Presented- Portal to the Public workshop- Neuro-Talk: Synaptic Communication. Detroit Zoo, Detroit, MI. January 17th, June 6th, 2015. 
• Organized and Presented – “Our nervous system at work” workshop at Marble Elementary School to 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders, East Lansing, MI. May 2013.
• Designed and Co-coordinate- Bridge to the PhD in Neuroscience (BPNP) Summer Program scientific writing workshop, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. May 2012- 2016.
  • I developed the written assignments and supporting materials for the BPNP Summer Program. I also coordinated professional, social events and the recruitment of graduate students and post doc facilitators that helped in the events as well as in the evaluation of students’ assignments. BPNP is an NIH, NSF funded program that brings underrepresented minorities to Michigan State University to engage in 10 weeks of summer research, professional development activities and social events. BPNP is directed by Dr. William Atchison. 
• Designed and Co-coordinate. Bridge to Neuroscience Workshop; Neuroscience Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. January 2011 – 2016. 
  • A group of MSU graduate students and myself developed this one day hands-on neuroscience workshop. This workshop is given multiple times a year in Puerto Rico and its main goal is to increase exposure of neuroscience to underrepresented minorities, increase awareness of neuroscience as a career and serve as a recruitment tool for the Bridge to Neuroscience Summer Program. For our work with this workshop and its impact, the other two graduate students and myself received the Next Generation Award from the Society of Neuroscience in 2014. ​  ​

INVITED PRESENTATIONS

• Speaker - UNE URGREAT-MBRS-RISE Program end of the year event. "Conversatorio: Sí se puede". Carolina, PR. May 2018.
• Panelist - Society of Toxicology Undergraduate Education Program. “What is Grad school and what can I expect? A postdoc perspective”. Baltimore, MD. March 2017. 
  Panelist - MSU 2015 Leadership Summit. Student leadership panel: "My experience as the president of MSU Graduate Women in Science". East Lansing, MI. November 2015.
• Panelist - Society of Toxicology Undergraduate Education Program. “What is Grad school and what can I expect? A graduate student perspective”. Phoenix, AZ. March 2014.
• Speaker - UNE URGREAT-MBRS-RISE Program Retreat. “Jointly advancing our commitment to scholarly pursuit: Inspiring and empowering both mentor and mentee”, Fajardo, PR. May 2013.
• Speaker - University of Puerto Rico- Cayey RISE Program. “Life in Graduate School”. Cayey, PR. February 2012.

 
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND WORKSHOPS

• EDU 398: Seminar on College Teaching Course. UC Davis, Davis, CA. Fall 2018. Certificate. 
• Zebrafish Development and Genetics Course. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA. August 4th - 19th, 2017.
• Short Course: Optimizing Experimental Design for High Quality Science. Society for Neuroscience, October 16th, 2015. Certificate.
• Analyzing Next Generation Sequence Data short course. Michigan State University Kellogg Biological Station, Hickory Corners, MI, August 10 – 21st, 2015. Certificate.
• Graduate Student Leadership Academy. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, February 26th – April 2nd, 2015. Certificate.
• AAAS Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists. Michigan State University, MI, February 2015.
• Write Winning Grant Proposals. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, January 8th, 2015.
• Short Course: Advances in Brain-scale, Automated Anatomical Techniques: Neuronal Reconstruction, Tract Tracing, and Atlasing, Society for Neuroscience, November 14th, 2014. Certificate.
• Responsible Conduct of Research. Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, October 2013 – February 2014. Certificate.
• University Graduate Certification in College Teaching Institute, East Lansing, MI, May 2013.
• Laser Capture Microdissection: Methods for Microgenomic Analysis, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, August 3 – 6, 2010.