Dr. Urquiza is a postdoctoral researcher in the Romano lab. He earned his PhD in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine from BioGUNE (Spain) in 2018, focusing on developing treatments for Congenital Erythropoietic Porphyria (CEP) and drug discovery for rare diseases. An expert in high-throughput drug screening, he holds two international patents, has first-author publications in Science Translational Medicine and participated in the recognition of Ciclopirox for CEP treatment by the EMA and FDA.
His career includes research visits at the University of Medicine in Bordeaux (France) and a postdoctoral position at Rutgers University (USA), where he studied mitochondrial inorganic polyphosphate roles in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. In 2021, he joined the University of Almería and Torrecardenas University Hospital (Spain) to conduct pioneering research on colorectal cancer (CRC), developing a predictive diagnostic model for personalized medicine using NMR and omics technologies.
Currently, Dr. Urquiza is at Dr. Romano’s lab, researching drug resistance in melanoma among HIV patients to discover new treatment strategies, demonstrating his commitment to advancing therapeutic options and improving clinical outcomes for patients with complex diseases.