:format(jpg):quality(99):watermark(f.elconfidencial.com/file/57c/f73/0b4/57cf730b412ad7adb7151644bda336bd.png,0,275,1)/f.elconfidencial.com/original/c04/08a/f40/c0408af4049491001f12a04a8b48255d.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1 "The Valencian who “by chance” ended up doing research with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry tells us the secrets of his work")
It was in 2016 when Alfredo Quijano (Valencia, 1993) arrived in Seattle to begin his doctorate in Bioengineering at the University of Washington. After having finished his degree in Biotechnology at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV), a scholarship from the La Caixa Foundation allowed him to do research in the US and what he did not know at that time is that I would end up working side by side con David Bakerwho just won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024 for computational protein design. Although he came to university “by chance” and is ashamed to admit that at first “I didn’t know much about Baker,” before turning 30 he has managed to co-found two biotechnology companies, publish in Naturecontinue the research that has earned him the Nobel Prize and investigate the therapies of the future.
“When I finished my degree I already knew that I wanted to dedicate myself to research. I was working in a research laboratory at the UPV and it was clear to me that I wanted to continue in the field of synthetic biologyalthough I didn’t know where. “So I asked for the scholarship from the Foundation and that is what opened the doors to the United States for me,” the Valencian tells El Confidencial. “I received the scholarship in 2015 to leave in 2016 and at that time I chose the university. The truth is that by chance I ended up in SeattleI didn’t ask for the scholarship in particular to go there to design proteins, it was just that I liked the university and the program when I investigated where to go. Once I was here… I’m a little embarrassed to say…, but I didn’t know much about David Baker, He was already a pretty famous professor then, and now you wouldn’t even imagine. I happened upon his lab, saw what he was doing and said ‘Hey, this looks really interesting.’ I spoke with him and the truth is that we got along very well and he told me ‘Alfredo, come to the laboratory and we’ll try how you work,'” Quijano says about how he came to work with the Nobel Prize winner, for whom he is full of praise today.
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Although initially he should have gone through several laboratories during the first year, to choose the most suitable one, the love scientific was such that he stayed at Baker’s from the beginning in the Institute for Protein Design.
The Valencian carried out his doctoral research together with the Nobel Prize winner in protein design, the field that has now earned him the distinction together with two other researchers. Baker managed to 2003 design a protein different from all existing ones and later created many “spectacular” proteins in his laboratory thanks to his software Rosetta. The Nobel team, which includes the Valencian, has produced proteins that can be used as vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors.
The new therapies that are coming
He protein design that is being developed in Baker’s laboratory is going to have “a very great impact on all fields of research, from diagnoses to medicines”value Spanish.
Until now, to investigate new treatments or diagnostic tools “proteins that exist in nature were used. We have a very easy example with the antibodiesyes I want one against covid I will have to work with miceidentify the antibody, produce it and then use it therapeutically. But it is not always an optimal protein for application, it always has some side effect or some effect that is not desired. And for many years protein engineering has been done to try to solve these problems that they may have.” “What has changed with this technology for which they have been awarded the Nobel Prize is that instead of doing that whole process, now, for example, you say ‘okay, I want an antibody against the coronavirus, I’m going to design it on the computer because I I know what I want to get.’ Instead of doing that whole natural process and finding a protein that exists in nature, you use the computer to design the protein you really need. And that is what they call protein design,” he develops.
Alfredo Quijano investigating against covid. (Image provided)
These proteins serve to obtain more exact results in the medical application sought, allowing for faster, more efficient designs that do not require animals. Which leads to generating therapies, How can they be against cancer? “con fewer side effectsso they are going to have a greater impact on the patient.”
Specifically, the research that the Valencian carried out in Baker’s laboratory included two projects which were founding pieces of two companies: one applied for therapeutic purposes and the other for diagnostics.
Firstly, before even finishing his thesis, together with other postdoctoral students, he founded In Neoleukin, a company that sought to avoid side effects in treatments against tumor processes. The Valencian simplifies it like this: “There is a cancer therapy It works, but it is very toxic, has many side effects and is practically not used today. So the idea was to remove the toxic effects of that therapy, but maintaining the anti-cancer effects using protein design.”
This idea reached clinical trial and managed to become the first human designed protein which is tested in patients. This company became quite large, it passed into other hands and the trial is still underway, but the definitive results on that molecule they invented have not been published.
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Once he had finished his doctorate, together with Nobel, he founded the company MonodBio, which uses Baker’s award-winning artificial protein engineering technology. “Based on what I saw doing therapies, I also realized that I could design proteins that respond to the environment and that change activity, that is, they give you more activity in a certain environment. And I said ‘ah, well this can be applied to diagnoses very easily’. In fact, during the doctorate the pandemic arrived with this project underway and I immediately decided to apply it to detect covid and it worked quite well. But this had a limited time, so we started a company for which they gave us 25 million dollars, something that would be impossible to see in Spain.”
“We have realized that we can use this new field of technology that has been awarded the Nobel Prize to take all these tools that biotechnology companiesresearch and diagnostics are using, identify what problems are working and that doesn’t work. So keep what works and change what doesn’t work. And the truth is that we are doing quite well,” adds the Valencian, who feels very proud of having made his theoretical projects a reality and does not rule out return to Spain in the future to bring “all that knowledge, the American way of doing things and contributing with everything learned, because the scientific talent in Spain is incredible.
What is it like to work with a Nobel Prize winner?
Although on many occasions these types of profiles tend to be in constant movement (conferences, meetings, talks…) and are barely visible to the public. research laboratoriesBaker is a rare review. The Valencian jokes that he saw “too much” of him.
Alfredo Quijano. (Image provided)
“One very interesting thing about David Baker is that His passion is science and the laboratory. Everything else is secondary. Even though he has many commitments, he says ‘look, I’m not leaving Seattle because I have than being in my laboratory‘”, he explains. “When I was a student and I was with him in the laboratory, I remember that he was there from early until eight at night. And he always makes time to talk to students, brainstorm, look for new projects…
For Quijano, “He is an example to follow” and a “very humble” person to whom one of his great dreams when he won the Nobel It is to have done it “while his parents are still alive, who are also university professors.”
Competence and communication in the laboratory
The research center at the University of Washington that Baker directs is made up of several laboratories and around 150 researchers.
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Regarding the environment, “It is a competitive place, but at the same time communication is encouraged.” “A truly successful person is a person who communicates, who shares ideas and who collaborates,” which is why it is encouraged by both Baker in particular and the institution in general.
Likewise, the Valencian stands out the resources it has in the US. “The laboratory has millions of dollars and time is valued. And they come to tell you ‘You dedicate yourself to what you have to do and we will give you the resources’, unlike in Spain. Likewise, he highlights the high esteem that American researchers have for Spanish researchers: “We work very hard, we are very intelligent, we are very prepared and we know how to make the most of resources.”
