Dr. Gonzalez-Juarbe, PhD

Norberto Gonzalez-Juarbe is an assistant professor working in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics. Currently, he is focused on the host responses that occur during co- and secondary bacterial infections to influenza.

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Dr. Gonzalez-Juarbe began his science career researching the habitability of primary producers in the field of astrobiology. Later while working on his PhD, his research was one of the first to establish that bacterial pathogens use pore-forming toxins to deplete the lungs of alveolar macrophages through activation of necroptosis (programmed necrosis).

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As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, under the supervision of Dr. Carlos Orihuela, Dr. Gonzalez-Juarbe focused on the study of Streptococcus pneumoniae-induced cardiac damage during invasive pneumococcal disease and expanded his graduate work on how bacterial pore-forming toxins cause cell death and the immunological implications of these mechanisms.

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Dr. Gonzalez-Juarbe earned his BS in microbiology from the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo and his PhD in microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Health–San Antonio under the supervision of Dr. Molly A. Bergman.