Josefina María Vegara Meseguer, PhD
Associate Professor · Escuela Politécnica Superior · UCAM Universidad Católica de Murcia
Bioengineer and biophysicist working at the interface of medical biophysics, regenerative medicine and computational chemistry for drug discovery.
About
Josefina holds a PhD in Bioengineering from Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche (2005), an MSc in Bioengineering (UMH, 2000) and a degree in Physical Sciences from Universitat de València (1998). She joined UCAM in 2006 as a Profesor Contratado Doctor (PDI) at the Escuela Politécnica Superior, where she has built a research line on medical biophysics and computational drug discovery.
Her research has covered the reconstruction of endocrine pancreatic function, the electrophysiological characterisation of insulin-producing cells derived from stem cells, and the clinical application of infrared thermography for the follow-up of muscular dystrophies. Earlier in her career she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Medicine, Lund University Hospital (Sweden), and worked with the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center and the CABIMER stem-cell centre.
Within BIO-HPC, she contributes to the computational chemistry track — co-author on the group’s antiviral repurposing work (Kukoamine A, Zeaxanthin, Clexane as furin inhibitors) and co-inventor on related Spanish patents. She has been an invited speaker at the Max Planck Institute and at multiple international forums on bioengineering and rare diseases.
Focus areas
Medical biophysics
Electrophysiology of insulin-producing cells, regenerative medicine and clinical infrared thermography for rare diseases.
Bioengineering
Reconstruction of pancreatic endocrine function and characterisation of stem-cell-derived models.
Computational drug discovery
Co-author on the BIO-HPC antiviral programme — identification of natural compounds as furin inhibitors against coronavirus.
Selected publications
- Identification of Kukoamine A, Zeaxanthin, and Clexane as new furin inhibitors.
- Relationship between infrared skin radiation and functional tests in patients affected by Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy: Part 2.
- Relationship between infrared skin radiation and muscular strength tests in patients affected by Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy.
Patents
- Zeaxanthin for the prevention and treatment of viral infection, preferably by coronavirus.
- Kukoamine A for the prevention and treatment of viral infection, preferably by coronavirus.