Affiliation: Harvard Medical School

Dr. Florez is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School's Department of Systems Biology. He holds a PhD in Cancer Biology from Heidelberg University and the German Cancer Research Center. His PhD revealed a link between the oncogene MYCN—found in aggressive tumors—and heightened ferroptosis sensitivity, offering a novel approach for targeted cancer treatment. During his Harvard postdoc in the Molecular and Cellular Biology department, he pioneered a CRISPRi tool that proficiently silences genes in bacteria with minimal noise, no leakiness, and reversibility through rapid protein degradation. He authored "Ferroptosis: Mechanism and Diseases," and his ferroptosis research received recognition in New Scientist. His current focus centers on a microfluidic platform using microscopic sorting with single RNA sequencing to detect cancer persister cells post-ferroptosis induction. Dr. Florez aims to synergize his expertise in cancer biology, synthetic biology, and platform development to revolutionize the panorama of cancer therapy.