Pia Rodriguez, BA
Graduate Student
mariapia.rodriguez.salazar@duke.edu
Pia was born in Bolivia and raised in Peru until age 11 when her family immigrated to the United States. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology at UNC-Chapel Hill. After graduation, Pia joined the Regenerative Medicine Lab at United Therapeutics in NC where her research focused on developing stem cell-based therapies to treat chronic lung disease. Pia decided to pursue a PhD in Cell Biology at Duke and joined the Eroglu Lab in 2019, where she is a 2020 PD Soros Fellow and a 2021 HHMI Gilliam Fellow. Her thesis work investigates how mitochondrial dynamics control astrocyte morphogenesis and function during brain development, and how astrocyte mitochondrial dysfunction can lead to neurodevelopmental defects. Outside of lab, Pia is passionate about increasing inclusivity in STEM, loves hiking in the mountains with her partner and 2 dogs, and will never pass up eating good food with family and friends.
Expertise
Primary cortical cell culture, in vivo postnatal electroporation, confocal microscopy and analysis, mitochondrial isolation, biochemical/metabolic assays
