Meet our team: IFNY wants everyone to get to know our amazing members!

Dr. Miguel Manzanares is the Events Manager of IFNY. He is a Postdoctoral researcher at NYU School of Medicine, trained as a cancer biologist with expertise in drug development projects, tumor microenvironment studies and dietary prevention strategies on a wide variety of cancers as endometrium, mesothelioma, cholangiocarcinoma and breast cancer.

Miguel started his scientific career in Barcelona, Spain, where he got his PhD in Cell Biology and afterward he moved to Richmond, VA and finally to New York!. During this professional journey he has discovered his passion for translational research and how to efficiently transfer the knowledge from the bench to the people in need.

Five fun facts about Miguel
1. What sorts of challenges are you dealing with right now?
I think the biggest challenge I am facing right now is to work in drug discovery in an academic environment. When pharma does this type of research, resources has no limit. When we do it in academia, starting from thousands of small molecules and narrow it down to a few hit compounds with and NIH budget is a big deal. At least on my experience.

2. What scientific technology are you most excited about and why?
So many! Crisper/Cas9, single cell sequencing, cell cycle FACS analysis, RNA-seq, and basically anything that helps to understand cancer cell biology and how to target it pharmacologically.

3. If you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be?
Organization skills, no doubt! I wish I could wake up one day mastering the art of creating a flow chart, a work breakdown structure, a timeline schedule with the critical path determined, in 10 minutes at 9 am in a Monday before my first coffee.

4. What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard?
I really like a quote from Marie Curie, she said once: “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now it is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less”.
I think that apply at so many different levels in and out of the scientific world.

5. Do you collect anything?
Yes, I do! I like to collect magnets from places I visit. Some day the front door of my fridge will be completely covered with places I have been all over the world.