Dr. Rogers Nahui-Palomino obtained his Ph.D. in Biotechnological and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna (Italy). During his doctoral studies he deciphered several mechanisms by which Lactobacillus, isolated from the vaginas of healthy women, can protect against Candida and Chlamydia infections.
In 2015, Dr. Nahui-Palomino joined Dr. Margolis’s Lab at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he is currently finishing his Postdoctoral Fellowship. At NIH, he identified several new important mechanisms by which these bacteria protect cervico-vaginal tissue from HIV-1 infection. Thereafter, Dr. Nahui-Palomino investigated the phenomenon further and found something extraordinary. One of the hot topics in modern biomedicine is the study of extracellular-vesicles (EVs) that play a key role in cell-cell communications. He demonstrated that vaginal lactobacilli release EVs that directly inactivate HIV-1. Also, he has been working in deciphering the role of EVs derived from pathogenic bacteria (Gardnerella vaginalis, enterococcus faecium, enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus) during HIV-1 infection.
