Mercedes earned her Ph.D. in Immunology at Hospital de la Princesa/Univ. Autonoma de Madrid, Spain (1990). She continued her research at Yale University, School of Medicine in CT (1991-1996). Mercedes joined the Department of Medicine - Immunobiology Program at UVM as an Assistant Professor in 1996. In 2002, she became an Associate Professor with Tenure, and in 2009 was promoted to full Professor. She is also the Director of the University of Vermont Transgenic Mouse Facility (1997-pressent).

Research Interests

Dr. Rincon has worked in a broad spectrum of areas in immunology and outside of immunology, and published a number of studies in high impact factor journals. Dr. Rincon has been a leader in the area of MAP kinase, primarily p38 MAP kinase and its role in early thymocyte development, CD4 and CD8 T cell activation and death, as well as in inflammatory diseases such as Lyme arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis. Dr. Rincon has also dedicated substantial effort to show that IL-6 is not just a proinflammatory marker but has a major role in determining the fate of effector CD4 T cells, and she is currently working in its implications in asthma/allergy, viral infection and arthritis. In addition, outside of the immunology area, Dr. Rincon has developed a major interest in understanding molecular mechanisms of multidrug resistance in breast cancer and has moved forward some of her findings to current clinical studies.

CMB Lab Members