Deyarina Gonzalez

About

Professor Deya Gonzalez is a Professor of Molecular and Translational Medicine at Swansea University Medical School and Chair of Swansea University Oversight and Sponsorship. She graduated with a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Havana, Cuba (1997), and began her career in Professor Rojas' Pharmacology group at the Centre for Pharmaceutical Chemistry. Her early research focused on inflammation, tumour biology, and the pharmacological evaluation of natural products, which earned her the Cuban National Academy of Science Award in 2001. In 2000, Professor Gonzalez was awarded an EGIDE fellowship to explore post-translational regulation mechanisms in Professor Drapier’s lab at ICSN-CNRS, Gif-Sur-Yvette, France, as part of her PhD studies. She subsequently joined Professor Conlan's group at Swansea University in 2002, where she contributed to research on transcription repression mechanisms using plant and yeast models. She earned her PhD in Molecular Biology in 2007, focusing on the modulation of adherent junctions by post-translational modifications induced by nitric oxide. As a founding member of the Reproductive Biology and Gynaecological Oncology Group at Swansea, she leads the Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) programme and served as Scientific Academic Advisor for the Accelerated ADC Discovery Searchlight network until 2023. In her role as Regional Academic Lead for South-West Wales within the Wales Cancer Research Centre, she contributed to the Cancer Research Strategy for Wales. She also plays an active role in the Advanced Therapies Wales Research, Development & Innovation Working Group and serves on the Health and Care Research Wales (HCRW) Research Faculty awards panel. Since 2021, Professor Gonzalez has been a member of the Swansea Bay NHS Joint Scientific Research Committee, and she has served on clinical recruitment panels for the Swansea Bay NHS University Health Board since 2015. She manages four HRA REC portfolio studies in the area of women's health, recruiting patients across South Wales. Research Focus-Translational Medicine Prof Gonzalez’s ultimate goal is to advance the development of functional platforms and targeted therapies for clinical use, particularly in the fields of female infertility, gynaecological cancers, and menopause. Her projects, in collaboration with the NHS and the private sector, focus on 3D patient-derived disease models incorporating adipocytes, biomarker discovery, drug screening—including natural products—precision medicines such as ADCs and exosomes, as well as interventions and management tools for women's health. She actively engages with patient advocacy groups and charities through her work and connects with the public through initiatives like Soapbox Science and other outreach efforts. Current Research Themes include: 1. Drug development a. Antibody Drug Conjugates: -Preclinical development of humanised RAGE-ADC candidate for oncology applications -Characterisation of novel targets, payloads and resistance mechanisms b. Exosomes: -Exosomal miRNAs as biomarkers of ovarian cancer and endometriosis -Exosomes as drug delivery systems to overcome chemoresistance -Nanoalgosomes c. Natural products: -Marine products with anticancer properties 2. Tumour microenvironment: -Adiposity and Cancer: Adipocyte signalling within the tumour microenvironment -3D models of ovarian cancer 3. Women health -Diet interventions as management tools for endometriosis -Stress and Female Infertility -Menopause: Steroid hormones and health monitoring -Biomarkers of endometrial hyperplasia and cancer