Noraida Martinez-Rivera, Ph.D

Dr. Noraida Martinez-Rivera
  • Director

Contact Info

Work Number:
785-864-4380
Haworth Hall, Room 1043
Lawrence
1200 Sunnyside Ave.
Lawrence, KS 66045

Education —

B.S. in Coastal Marine Biology , University of Puerto Rico- Humacao, 2005
Ph.D. in Ecology and Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico- Rio Piedras, 2015
Postdoctoral Researcher. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Kansas, 2019, Lawrence

Research —

Areas of Interest: Neuroscience, Ecology, Microscopy, Immunohistochemistry, Sample Preparation for Optical and Electron Microscopy, Tissue Sectioning, Science Education, Mentoring

 

Dr. Martinez-Rivera’s research focused on mechanosensory receptors and their role in modulating an innate sexually dimorphic behavior. In the of fall 2015, she joined Dr.Rosa-Molinar as a postdoctoral researcher at The University of Kansas, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Her research is focused on axo-somatic mixed synapses, a poorly studied synapses that combine the features of chemical and electrical synapses (i.e., gap junction) on sensory (i.e., supramedullary and spinal cord dorsal neurons) neurons within the spinal cord. She and her other lab members are developing, testing, and applying innovative approaches and technologies to enable new and radial insights into synaptic geometry. Dr. Martinez-Rivera has served as the course manager of the Immunohistochemistry and Microscopy course offered at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA since spring 2010 to 2017. Dr. Martinez-Rivera has participated in ABRCMS as a FASEB/MARC (2016-2017) and ASM/ABRCMS Mentor (2018-2019). From 2021to 2025, Dr. Martinez-Rivera served on a KU Belonging initiative supported by the Office of Research. In 2024, Dr. Martinez-Rivera was appointed Interim Director of the Microscopy and Analytical Imaging (MAI) Lab.

Selected Publications —

United States Patent  

  • Rosa-Molinar, E., Das, S. R., Thapa-Chetri, P. S., Martinez-Rivera, N., and Xing, W., US Application number: 12,217,931 “Graphene Based Substrates for Imaging”, issued: February 4, 2025; filed: December 11, 2018.

 

Publications

2025

  • Ly, T., Pickard, B., Pandey, A., Yap, M., Opara, J., Arnold, L., Martinez-Rivera, N., Rosa-Molinar, E., New, J., Werner, L., Farrokhian, N., Gunewarden, S. a, O’Neil, M., Bur, A., Anant, S., Washburn, M. P., Barnaba, C., Ding, W. X., Thomas, S. M. 2025. TRIM16 mediates secretory autophagy in head and neck cancer-associated fibroblasts. Autophagy, May 22: 1-24. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/15548627.2025.2508064

  • Pearson, J. R., Martinez-Rivera, N., Torres-Vasquez, I., Gallagher, P. M., and Rosa-Molinar, E. 2025. An Integrated Workflow for Three-Dimensional Visualization of Human Skeletal Muscle Stem Cell Nuclei. Bio-protocol 15(8): e5281. DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.5281

2024

  • Karthikesh, M. S., Martinez-Rivera N., Rosa-Molinar, E., Wang, X., Yang, X. 2024. Ultrasound-assisted laser therapy for selective removal of melanoma cells. Exp. Biol. Med. 249:10096. URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/ebm.2024.10096

2023

  • Jarosova, R., Woolfolk, S. K., Martinez‐Rivera, N., Jaeschke, M. W., Rosa‐Molinar, E., Tamerler, C., and Johnson, M.A. 2023. Spatiotemporal Imaging of Zinc Ions in Zebrafish Live Brain Tissue Enabled by Fluorescent Bionanoprobes. Molecules, 28, 2260. URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28052260

2022

  • Martinez-Rivera, N., Serrano-Velez, J. L., Torres-Vazquez, I. I., Langerhans R. B., and Rosa-Molinar, E. 2022. Are superficial neuromasts proprioceptors underlying fast copulatory behavior? Front. Neural Circuits 16: 921568. 

    URL: https://doi.org/10.3389/fncir.2022.921568

2019

  • Song, J. Y., Larsona, N. R., Thatia, S., Torres-Vazquez, I. I., Martinez-Rivera, N., Subelzu, N. J., Leon, M. A., Rosa-Molinar, E., Schöneich, C., Forest, M. L., Middaugh, C .R., and Berkland, C. J. 2019.  Glatiramer acetate persists at the injection site and draining lymph nodes via electrostatically-induced aggregation.  J. Controlled Release 293: 36-47. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconrel.2018.11.007

2013

  • Tellechea, J. S., Román-Busó, G. and Martinez-Rivera, N. 2013. Distribution of manatees and noise near a coastal power plant. Caribbean Journal of Science, 47(2-3):363-366. URL: https://doi.org/10.18475/cjos.v47i3.a24

2010

  • Rivera-Rivera, N. L., Martinez-Rivera, N., Torres-Vázquez, I. I., Serrano-Vélez-, J. L., Lauder, G. V., and Rosa-Molinar, E. 2010. A male Poecillid’s sexually dimorphic body plan, behavior, and nervous system. Int. Comp. Biol. 50(6):1081–1090. URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icq147

2009

  • Ramirez, A., de Jesús, R., Martinó-Cardona, D. M., Martinez-Rivera, N., and Burgos-Caraballo, S. 2009. Urban streams in Puerto Rico: what can we learn from the tropics? J. North Am. Benthol. Soc. 28(4):1070-1079. URL: https://doi.org/10.1899/08-165.1

 

Book Chapter

  • Martinez-Rivera, N., Serrano-Vélez, J. L., Lauder, G. V., and Rosa-Molinar, E. 2010. New Insights into Gambusia Behavior. For: Viviparous Fishes II Mari Carmen Uribe and Harry J. Grier, book editors. New Life Publications, Homestead, Florida. Pp.193-199.

 

Extended Abstracts

  • Rosa-Molinar, E., Roberts, J., and Martinez-Rivera, N. 2019. A Hands Training Module in Rigor and Reproducibility: Promoting Credible Science. The FASEB Journal, 33: 802.61-802.61. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.802.61 (Abstract)
  • Shinogle-Decker, H., Martinez-Rivera, N., O’Brien, J., Powell, R. D., Joshi, V. N., Connell, S., and Rosa-Molinar, E. Correlative FRET: new method improves rigor and reproducibility in determining distances within synaptic nanoscale architecture. Proc. SPIE 10499, Three-Dimensional and Multidimensional Microscopy: Image Acquisition and Processing XXV, 1049920; 23 February 2018. DOI: 10.1117/12.2290806
  • Thapa-Chetri, P. S., Santiago-Robles, C. M., Martinez-Rivera, N., Torres-Vazquez, I. I., Joshi, V. N., Powell, R. D., and Rosa-Molinar, E. Development and characterization of nanoparticles as imaging probes for correlative optical and electron microscopy. 2017. IEEE 17th International Conference on Nanotechnology (IEEE-NANO), Pittsburgh, PA. Pp. 159-163. DOI: 10.1109/NANO.2017.8117452
  • Martinez-Rivera N., Serrano-Velez, J. L., Torres-Vazquez, I. I., and Rosa-Molinar, E. 2014. Superficial neuromasts as proprioceptive receptors in Poeciliid fish. FASEB J28: Supplement 1050.11 (Abstract).