{"id":5048,"date":"2026-05-13T15:09:27","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5048"},"modified":"2026-08-10T11:54:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:54:24","slug":"mariangeliz-delgado-lopez-2","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/mariangeliz-delgado-lopez-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Mariangeliz Delgado Lopez"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Delgado-Lopez-Mariangeliz-.jpg\" alt=\"by Corban Swain\" class=\"wp-image-5591\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:cover;width:200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Delgado-Lopez-Mariangeliz-.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Delgado-Lopez-Mariangeliz--200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>University of Puerto Rico, Humacao<\/strong><br>Faculty Advisor: Prof. Bryan Bryson<br>Department: Biological Engineering<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mariangeliz Delgado L\u00f3pez is a rising junior in Microbiology at the University of Puerto<br>Rico at Humacao. Raised in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico, she discovered her passion for research in<br>fifth grade through a project exploring Rhizophora mangle ecosystems. After Hurricane Maria<br>struck Puerto Rico, she expanded this work throughout high school to examine the storm&#8217;s effects<br>on these ecosystems, incorporating chemical and microbiological methods under university<br>mentorship. Her current research investigates the antitumoral potential of bioactive compounds in<br>human cancer cell models, reflecting her interests in microbiology, cell biology, and translational<br>medicine. She also develops computational tools that streamline research workflows. Beyond the<br>lab, she has participated in Amgen-sponsored workshops, volunteered with MEDLIFE in Ecuador,<br>and supported biodiversity conservation through Zoocriadero de Mariposas Alianza Verde. Now<br>in her second year with the MIT Summer Research Program, she continues strengthening her<br>confidence as a researcher while preparing for a career as a physician-scientist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Barcoding Phagosomes in Macrophages and Characterizing Lysosomal<br>Membrane Damage in THP-1 cells<br>Mariangeliz Delgado L\u00f3pez1 and Bryan Bryson, PhD2<\/strong><br>1Department of Biology, University of Puerto Rico, Humacao Campus<br>2Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Phagocytosis is a component of the innate immune response in which membrane-bound compartments<br>called phagosomes engulf pathogens, dead cells and foreign material before fusing with lysosomes to form<br>degradative phagolysosomes. Although considerable progress has been made in characterizing phagosome<br>function and lysosomal damage-response pathways, approaches provide limited tools to track phagosome<br>identity and reliably detect lysosomal membrane damage. This gap limits our understanding of phagosome<br>regulation and endomembrane integrity during immune responses. To address these challenges, we are<br>developing complementary approaches for phagosome barcoding in macrophages and lysosomal damage<br>detection in THP-1 cells. A CD68-V5 construct will be engineered and expressed in macrophages by<br>lentiviral transduction to label phagosomal membranes. Immunofluorescence microscopy and phagosome<br>cytometry will visualize and quantitatively analyze labeled phagosomes. In parallel, THP-1 cells will be<br>treated with LLOMe to induce lysosomal membrane permeabilization and stained with a panel of antibodies<br>to evaluate their recruitment to damaged lysosomes by immunofluorescence microscopy. We expect these<br>approaches to establish a robust strategy for tracking phagosomes in macrophages while identifying reliable<br>microscopy markers of lysosomal membrane damage in THP-1 cells. Together, these tools will provide<br>a framework for studies of phagosome regulation, endomembrane homeostasis and immune responses in<br>health and disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5402,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5048","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5694,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5048\/revisions\/5694"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}