Email

antonyr@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor

Medicine
Immunology, Allergy & Rheumatology
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Graduate Faculty Member

Immunology & Microbiology
Baylor College of Medicine

Graduate Faculty Member

Development, Disease Models & Therapeutics
Baylor College of Medicine

Addresses

Main Office (Office)

Baylor College of Medicine
Room: N903.02 Alkek
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (713) 798-2664

Education

PhD from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Houston, Texas United States

Genetics, Development, Programmed Cell Death

Postdoctoral Fellowship at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Cambridge, United Kingdom

microRNAs, Immunology, Stem cells, Genomics

Professional Interests

• microRNA regulation of COPD and IPF
• lung repair and regeneration
• contribution of inflammation on lung injury

Professional Statement

My lab is interested in microRNAs as powerful genetic and epigenetic modifiers of inflammatory disease in the lung. Our approach is multipronged and we work with genetically modified mice and clinical samples to decipher the mechanism of action of microRNAs. The scope of our research is wide and for example we have shown the importance of miRNAs in adaptive and/or innate immunity (i.e. miR-155, miR-22), heart failure (i.e. miR-22), and lung injury (i.e. miR-22). Our most recent projects focuses on the let-7 miRNA as a master regulator of inflammation in immune cell compartments (T cells and macrophages) as well as alveolar stem cells (AT2 cells). We have found that genetic manipulation of let-7 miRNA in immune cells or AT2 cellular compartments sensitizes mice to lung inflammation and either chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We we are also interested in role of let-7 as a regulator of influenza virus infection in the lung. A more recent project seeks to understand the role of let-7 as a direct regulator of IL6 and IL10 utilizing novel genetically modified mice. Our combined work highlights the importance of miRNAs in human lung diseases and have potential implications in miRNA-based therapeutics.

Selected Publications

• Nam JW, Rissland OS, Koppstein D, Abreu-Goodger C, Jan CH, Agarwal V, Yildirim MA, Rodriguez A, Bartel DP "Global analyses of the effect of different cellular contexts on microRNA targeting." Mol Cell. 2014 Mar 20 Pubmed PMID: 24631284
• Gurha P, Wang T, Larimore AH, Sassi Y, Abreu-Goodger C, Ramirez MO, Reddy AK, Engelhardt S, Taffet GE, Wehrens XH, Entman ML, Rodriguez A "microRNA-22 promotes heart failure through coordinate suppression of PPAR/ERR-nuclear hormone receptor transcription." PLoS One. 2013 Pubmed PMID: 24086656
• Gurha P, Abreu-Goodger C, Wang T, Ramirez MO, Drumond AL, van Dongen S, Chen Y, Bartonicek N, Enright AJ, Lee B, Kelm RJ, Reddy AK, Taffet GE, Bradley A, Wehrens XH, Entman ML, Rodriguez A "Targeted deletion of microRNA-22 promotes stress-induced cardiac dilation and contractile dysfunction." Circulation. 2012 Jun 5 Pubmed PMID: 22570371
• Lu W, You R, Yuan X, Yang T, Samuel EL, Marcano DC, Sikkema WK, Tour JM, Rodriguez A, Kheradmand F, Corry DB "The microRNA miR-22 inhibits the histone deacetylase HDAC4 to promote T(H)17 cell-dependent emphysema." Nat Immunol. 2015 Nov Pubmed PMID: 26437241

Funding

Mechanism and Function of let-7, a Novel Modulator of Emphysema - #1R01HL140398-01A1

(09/01/2018 - 08/31/2023) Grant funding from NIH (NHLBI)

PI

Role of let-7 as a Genetic Modifier of Alzheimer's Disease - #3R01HL140398-02S1

(09/19/2019 Grant funding from NIH (NIA)

PI

Molecular and Cellular Dissection of miRNAs in Controlling Allergic Airway Inflammation in Mice - #1 I01 BX004828-01A1

Grant funding from VA CSR&D Merit