Sharilyn Almodovar, PhD

    Sharilyn Almodovar, Ph.D.
    Associate Professor
    Sharilyn.Almodovar@ttuhsc.edu
    Office Phone: 806-743-1091

 
Education:

Postdoctoral Fellow: University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, 2009
PhD: Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico, 2006

Biography:

Sharilyn Almodovar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunology and molecular Microbiology at Texas Tech University health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas. Dr. Almodovar graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University in Ponce, Puerto Rico with a B.S. degree in General Sciences in 2000. She then enrolled in the graduate program at the former Ponce School of Medicine (now Ponce Health Sciences University) in Puerto Rico where she earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with a focus on Virology in 2006, while under the mentorship of Dr. Eric Lorenzo. Dr. Almodovar moved to Denver, Colorado in the fall of 2006 to join the laboratory of Dr. Sonia C. Flores as a post-doctoral fellow in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, supported by a NIH/NHLBI T32 Training Grant (Dr. Kurt Stenmark, PI). Dr. Almodovar was promoted to Instructor in 2009 and awarded with a NIH/NHLBI Research Supplement to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (Dr. Flores, PI) to continue her research. In 2010 she was awarded with an NIH/NHLBI Mentored Career Development Award to Promote Faculty Diversity in Biomedical Sciences (K01) and was promoted to Assistant Professor in the Division of Pulmonary Sciences and Critical Care Medicine. In 2017, Dr. Almodovar was recruited to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology and Molecular Microbiology. Dr. Almodovar has received several honors and awards including support from the NIH Loan Repayment Program for Clinical Research and several travel awards for minority trainees.

Research Interests:

Major Research Interests: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and vascular remodeling

Throughout the years, Dr. Almodovar has investigated Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and its involvement in pulmonary vascular diseases like Pulmonary Hypertension. Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) is a long-term complication of HIV infection and is a cause of mortality unrelated to AIDS. What in HIV causes or contributes to PH was –and still remains- largely unknown. As a postdoctoral fellow in Colorado, Dr. Almodovar contributed her experience in molecular virology and bioinformatics to uncover specific HIV Nef polymorphisms associated with the pulmonary hypertensive phenotype in HIV-infected individuals. In addition, her work helped to confirm the utility of SHIVnef-infected macaques as suitable models of HIV-associated pulmonary vascular remodeling, as the pathogenetic changes they observed are concordant with features of several forms of PH including idiopathic, familial, scleroderma-induced, and HIV-associated PH. Her research group then moved on to now investigate the role of CXCR4-utilizing HIV (X4 viruses) in pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary vascular disease, as well as using humanized mice as the next step to continue mechanistic studies here at TTUHSC. 

   
   Laboratory Techniques:
   Cell culture (BSL2+)
   Isolation and characterization of
   blood populations
   HIV bioinformatics
   Gene cloning
   Real- time PCR
   SDS-PAGE proteomics
   Immunoassay
   Flow cytometry       
   Tissue immunophenotyping
   Right heart catheterizations in
   mice

Positions:

If you are interested in joining this laboratory, please send your CV/Resume to Dr. Almodovar.

Graduate students:
If you are interested in pursuing a PhD or MD/PhD in Immunology/Infectious Diseases, please apply directly to the graduate program of the TTUHSC Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Positions are open for highly motivated grad students doing lab rotations. Other positions available may be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

In addition, we are looking for a talented, self-driven and resourceful student interested in undertaking original, in-depth research project in the field of HIV-host interactions, with a particular focus on the crossroads between infection, innate immunity, and pulmonary vascular biology. This is a collaborative project with Dr. Ruth Serra-Moreno’s laboratory at Texas Tech University. For more details, please visit: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/biology/people/Faculty/Serra-Moreno/

Undergraduate students:
Positions are open for highly motivated undergraduate students interested in doing translational research. Students should have a good background in biology and biochemistry and be able to volunteer 10-15 hours per week. Previous laboratory experience is desirable but not required. Please email your CV/Resume and a brief statement of purpose to Dr. Almodovar (sharilyn.almodovar@ttuhsc.edu).