A University of Florida College of Dentistry, or UFCD, postdoctoral associate, already an award-winner for her work on fungal brain infections, is now gaining national attention for her latest research mapping the mouth’s microbial landscape. Marta Reguera Gomez, Ph.D., a researcher in the Frias-Lopez Lab, was recently featured in The Scientist magazine’s prestigious “Postdoc Portrait” series.
The Q&A feature highlights her current project, which utilizes spatial transcriptomics to visualize how bacterial communities are organized in the oral tissues of patients with periodontitis.
Her work tackles a fundamental challenge in microbiome research: understanding not just which microbes are present, but where they are located.
“Traditional microbiome studies often rely on sequencing approaches that lose spatial context,” Reguera Gomez said in the article, noting her work provides a holistic view with “strong translational potential” for identifying new diagnostics and therapies.
This national recognition follows her first-place win at the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute’s Research Day earlier this year. That award recognized her previous research in the Martinez Lab on how the fungus Cryptococcus neoformans invades the central nervous system.
As she noted in her Q&A with The Scientist, her journey has “traversed almost the entire ‘pathogen spectrum,'” from fungi and parasites to the bacteria she studies today in the Department of Oral Biology.
This passion for discovery is what drives her. In the feature, she compares a fluorescent microscope to “the perfect blend of science and art,” adding that it “makes science feel tangible and alive… that balance of creativity and insight is exactly how I like to approach research.”
This national recognition arrives at a perfect moment, as the college prepares to celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week (September 15-19). Reguera Gomez’s success is a stellar example of the dedication and impact of all 29 postdoctoral associates at UFCD. The college congratulates her on this outstanding feature and looks forward to honoring the entire postdoctoral community during the upcoming week.
Read the full feature on The Scientist‘s website here: https://www.the-scientist.com/postdoc-portrait-marta-reguera-gomez-73338