Department

Environmental and Occupational Health

Education

• B.S.  University of Puerto Rico  1997
• M.S.   University of Puerto Rico  2003
• Ph.D  University of Arizona  2007

Background

Assistance Professor. Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Texas-Health Sciences Center at Houston

Postdoctoral Research Associate. Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder

Postdoctoral Research Associate. Department of Environmental Sciences Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Scholarly Interest

• Fate and transport of viruses in the environment
• UV Disinfection
• Ecology of enteric viruses
• Water reuse technologies and mechanisms of viral disinfection
• Rapid methods for determination of viral infectivity

Selected Publications

Articles

Rodríguez, R.A., Pepper I. and Gerba G.P. (2009) The application of polymerase chain reaction-based methods to assess the infectivity of enteric viruses in environmental samples. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75, 297-307

Gibbons, C., Rodríguez, R.A., Tallon, L., Sobsey, M.D. (2010) Evaluation of positively-charged alumina nanofiber cartridge filters for the primary concentration of noroviruses, adenoviruses, and male-specific coliphages from seawater. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 109, 635-41

Rodríguez R.A., Thie, L., Gibbons, C.D., Sobsey, M.D. (2012) Reducing the effect of environmental inhibition in the quantitative real-time PCR detection of adenovirus and norovirus in recreational seawaters. Journal of Virological Methods, 181 (1), 43-50  

Rodríguez, R.A., Gundy, P.M., Rijal, G.K., Gerba, C.P. (2012) The impact of combined sewage overflows on the viral contaminate on of receiving waters. Food and Environmental Virology, 4 (1), 34-40 

Rodríguez, R.A., Bounty, S., Linden, K.G. (2013) Long-range quantitative PCR for determining inactivation of adenovirus 2 by Ultraviolet Light. Journal Applied Microbiology, 114 (6), 1854-1865

Rodríguez, R.A., Polston, P.M., Wu MJ, Wu, J., Sobsey, M.D. (2013) An improved infectivity assay combining cell culture with real-time PCR for rapid quantification of human adenoviruses 41 and semi-quantification of human adenovirus in sewage. Water Research, 47(9), 3183-3191  

Rodríguez R.A., Bounty, S., Beck, S., Chan, C., McGuire, C., Linden, K.G. (2014). Photoreactivation of bacteriophages after UV disinfection: Role of genome structure and impacts of UV source. Water Research, 55,143-149  

Beck, S. E., Rodríguez, R. A., Linden, K. G., Hargy, T. M., Larason, T. C., & Wright, H. B. (2014). Wavelength dependent UV inactivation and DNA damage of adenovirus as measured by cell culture infectivity and long range quantitative PCR. Environmental Science & Technology, 48(1), 591-598. 

Beck, S.E., Rodríguez, R. A., Hawkins, M.A., Hargy, T.M., Larason, T.C., Linden, K.G. (2016). Comparison of UV-induced inactivation and RNA damage in MS2 phage across the germicidal UV spectrum. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 86 (5) 1468-1474

Nelson, K. L., Boehm, A. B., Davies-Colley, R.J., Dodd, M. C., Kohn, T., Linden, K. G., Liu, Y., Maraccini, P. A., McNeill, K., Mitch, W. A., Nguyen, T. H., Parker, K. M., Rodríguez, R. A., Sassoubre, L. M., Silverman, A. I., Wigginton, K. R., Zepp, R. G. (2018) Sunlight-mediated inactivation of health-relevant microorganisms in water: A review of mechanisms and modeling approaches. Environmental Science: Processes and Impact. 20 (8), 1089-1122 

Miller, S.E., Rodriguez, R.A., Nelson, K.L (2020) Removal and growth of microorganisms across treatment and simulated distribution at a pilot-scale direct potable reuse facility. Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology 6 (5) 370-1387

Rodríguez, R. A., Navar, C., Sangsanont, J., & Linden, K. G. (2022). UV inactivation of sewage isolated human adenovirus. Water Research, 218, 118496.

*Complete list of publication can be found at google scholar profile