Cesar Lopez

Cesar Lopez attended Rice University, where he majored in Biochemistry and Cell Biology as well as Philosophy. His research interests include virology and parasitology, especially as they pertain to poverty.




 

Project: "Cross-reactive antibody response between Zika and dengue virus in semen."
7/01/2018 - 8/01/2018
Nicaragua
 

What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
This fellowship is giving me the chance to go to a Nicaragua, where Zika virus circulated through in the large Latin American outbreak that caught the world's attention. I am excited to visit the transmission zone and contribute to local resources by helping to train a local study site in tissue culture. 

What do you anticipate learning?
In Nicaragua I can begin to study important questions about immunity from sexual transmission of this unique flavivirus, which might continue to sustain an outbreak even outside of the mosquito-borne transmission season. I am interested in continuing to pursue patient care and basic science research in interdisciplinary teams. This will give me the opportunity to work with the field research team in Nicaragua, an important component of this goal.

What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
It is impossible to separate infectious diseases from socioeconomic status, which is even further exacerbated in the Global South, which has been significantly affected by a history of colonialism.