Leader of the Gene and Cell Therapy research group

Francisco Martin Molina holds a PhD in Biological Sciences (extraordinary award) from the University of Granada-IPB Lopez Neyra (CSIC) in 1994. He spent 7 years as a postdoctoral fellow in London, first at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) from 1995 to 1997 and then at the Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences (UCL) from 1997 to 2002. During this time, he began his research in advanced therapies, in particular in the area of designing more effective and safer retroviral vectors for cancer immunotherapy-genic strategies.

In 2002 he established his own Gene and Cell Therapy (GCT) research group as a Ramón y Cajal contract at IPB López Neyra (CSIC). Since 2009 he has been working at GENYO, initially as Line Leader at the Fundación Publica Progreso y Salud (FPS) and since 2022 as Maria Zambrano Senior Researcher at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology iii and Immunology of the University of Granada.

In recent years his group has focused on the development of advanced therapy drugs (ATMPs) for Cancer (CAR-T) and Pompe disease. For this purpose, it has focused on two gene modification systems: 1) Lentiviral vectors as the most efficient and safe tools at present and 2) Genomic editing tools (ZFNs, CRISPR/Cas) as the technology of the future for efficient and risk-free gene therapy. In this line, the group actively collaborates with several hospitals with the aim of bringing their developments to clinical trials.

Dr. Martin has published more than 90 scientific articles in international journals, of which more than 70% are in the first quartile. He has been awarded 24 projects as principal investigator in national calls for proposals totaling 3.5 million euros. He has generated 16 patents, 6 of which have been licensed and are the basis of two technology-based companies of which he is the main founder: LentiStem Biotech and CRISPNA Bio. He has directed 5 postdoctoral fellows (2 of which have obtained a Nicolas Monardes position), 16 doctoral theses and 23 Master’s theses.

He is currently Secretary of the Spanish Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, coordinator of the gene therapy program of the TerAv network and coordinator of the work packages of the COST GenHumDi network. He is also coordinator of the gene therapy course of the Master in Genetics and Evolution (UGR) and of the gene and cell therapy course in the Master in “Manufactuting of Advance Therapy Medicinal Products” (UGR-FPS). He is also a professor in the Master’s Degree in Research and Advances in Immunology. He was recently appointed deputy scientific director of GENyO.