Translational Medicine
Bridging mechanistic discovery in the lab to questions that can improve diagnosis, therapy, and patient outcomes. The strongest biomedical research changes what clinicians can measure, explain, or offer at the bedside.
Research
Translational research with a clear clinical horizon.
My research identity is rooted in immune biology, molecular systems, and platform-oriented biomedical science. The through-line is simple: ask questions that can eventually change how disease is understood, measured, or treated.
0Peer-reviewed publications
0First-author publications
2022PhD, Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering
HMS/MGHPostdoctoral research, 2022-2023
Research narrative
The questions, the arc, and the direction ahead.
Seeing disease is not the same as understanding it.
Early work in pathology, CRO studies, and preclinical systems made that gap clear. The experience became the engine for a career built around mechanism, context, and translational relevance.
Immune cells make decisions.
Doctoral training focused on microRNA regulation of T-cell proliferation and signaling, especially miR-15a/16 regulation of the MEK1–ERK1/2–Elk1 axis in T-cell activation.
Mechanism must connect to consequence.
The core interest is research that clarifies what changes inside a cell, why it matters for disease, and how that insight could improve how disease is measured, treated, or explained.
Medical training sharpens the next science.
The destination is academic internal medicine with oncology and immune-mediated cancer as the primary clinical and research focus, ideally within a physician-scientist training environment.
Focus areas
Four pillars that define the platform.
Immunology and Molecular Systems
Studying immune signaling, microRNA regulation, and cellular decision-making across complex disease states. Understanding how cells switch between activation, tolerance, and dysfunction reveals where intervention can matter.
Oncology and Clinical Integration
Applying medical training to cancer and immune-mediated disease, targeting academic internal medicine with an oncology focus where clinical and scientific work inform each other.
Innovation and Future Medicine
Building platform thinking through diagnostics, biomaterials, organoids, and systems-based approaches to disease. Future medicine depends on tools that connect biological complexity to smarter decisions.
Ask me about
Conversation fields.
Oncology
Translational Oncology
Tumor microenvironment, PDAC, organoids, and immune-mediated cancer.
Immunity
T-cell immunology
Activation, memory, tolerance, microRNA regulation, and immune signaling.
Tools
Biomarker discovery
Diagnostics, platform design, assay development, and translational measurement.
Training
PSTP pathways
Academic internal medicine, protected research time, oncology, and physician-scientist mentorship.
Selected publications
Representative work.
Two representative papers below. The full peer-reviewed record lives on the Publications page.
Biomaterial vaccines capturing pathogen-associated molecular patterns protect against bacterial infections and septic shock.
Super M, Doherty E, Cartwright M, Ureña FR, et al.
Nature Biomedical Engineering
Demonstrated that immune-instructive biomaterials can capture bacterial signals in vivo and generate protection against sepsis, highlighting a path from materials engineering to clinically relevant infection control.
T-cell activation decreases miRNA-15a/16 levels to promote MEK1-ERK1/2-Elk1 signaling and proliferative capacity.
Ureña FR, Ma C, Hoffmann FW, et al.
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Showed that activation-driven loss of miR-15a/16 releases the MEK1-ERK-Elk1 pathway and expands T-cell proliferative capacity, clarifying a tractable lever in immune regulation.
Collaboration
Open to conversations about translational oncology research, academic internal medicine and PSTP residency programs, and physician-scientist mentorship.
Contact / Collaborate →