«There is still time, but we are on the right track in curing cancer»

Doctor in Chemistry from the UR since 2001, with postdoctoral stays at the University of Copenhagen and the CSIC, visiting professor at the University of Cambridge, professor at the University of La Rioja since this year… Francisco Corzana López, a Riojan from Medrano – although Logroño, 1974 appears on his ID – is one of those privileged minds that nature gives to science. A researcher at the UR since he arrived in 2005 with a Ramón y Cajal contract, his prestige, both at home and abroad, continues to rise. His own colleagues know this very well, as they have just notified him that at the beginning of October they will present him, at the University of Oviedo, with the most precious award in the field: the ‘José Barluenga’ Medal. An honor for a man, a lover of his family, his wife, his son and his parents and brothers, a friend of his friends, but passionate about teaching and research. Happy in his laboratory, he blushes at the slightest compliment and immediately diverts the conversation to his dreams and his work, focused for years on advancing the fight against cancer and ensuring that suffering is transformed into hope. . In healing.

– A prestigious award for a still young person. What does this recognition mean?

– Man, not very young anymore either, hahahaha, but well they usually arrive later. For me it has been an honor, because it is an award for a professional career, but it is not only mine, but also that of my Biological Chemistry research group at the University of La Rioja. It is an unexpected award and one that any young Spanish organic chemist dreams of having because for us José Barluenga is a reference, since he was a pioneer of chemical research and with great global prestige.

– Are you envious of what you see and hear at other universities and research centers?

– At the level of research concepts there are not so many differences, we can research in the same way as research is done in highly prestigious universities, the big difference is, above all, in the means and financial resources. Logically, if you have increasingly modern and more powerful means it will be easier to compete and obtain financing. The main drawback here, not in the UR or in La Rioja in particular but in Spain in general, is that in science there is very little money allocated to research.

– The pandemic put researchers in the spotlight. Has nothing changed?

– The pandemic did make society more aware of the importance of research, however I think we are quickly forgetting it, just as we forget the masks. Every year they try to have more funds, but it is never enough and, especially if we compare ourselves with other countries, we are at very low levels. However, there are very good researchers in Spain and when we go abroad we have a reputation for being very good workers, for being very responsible and, furthermore, for having very good training.

– Trained in La Rioja, also abroad, you have already been able to chain almost twenty years of research at the UR. Do you feel privileged? It’s not easy, right?

– No, it’s not easy. The research career in Spain is very hard and very complicated. I, in fact, got the university tenure position in 2017, when I was already 43 years old; stabilization is later than 40 years, so it is a career with a lot of uncertainties and that, in the end, weighs on the person. And in fact I have been lucky, I came in 2005 with a Ramón y Cajal contract, which was financially endowed and I stayed for five years; Later I also got a doctor’s contract that I kept going and in the end, a professor. I haven’t stopped having security, but that’s usually the case.

– Have you ever been tempted to leave La Rioja? Do you regret staying in a small community?

– I don’t regret staying here at all. Today we have infrastructure and when we don’t have it, it can be supplemented with collaborations with other scientists, which are very important in research, as well as necessary, because research today is multidisciplinary. Making up for the shortcomings that always exist in Spain, I am very happy to be in my homeland and at the University of La Rioja.

– With new technologies, is the only obstacle money?

– The only obstacle remains money, indeed. Nowadays it is much easier to travel and send students to other centers or for collaborators to come here, I have weekly meetings by videoconference with researchers who are in other countries… Things have changed a lot for the better, but we cannot stop claiming that more economic resources should be allocated.

– Teaching or research?

– Both, I think, are two key pillars. Being a good researcher allows you to have a different point of view and contribute new ideas and new wisdom to teaching. In my particular case I like both and I enjoy doing science but also teaching students.

– What virtues does a researcher need? It usually takes years of work to, many times, achieve small advances, in the best of cases.

– It takes a lot of patience because, in fact, research requires many years to bear fruit, but you also need to be very curious and up to date with what you are researching, to see new possibilities, new routes, gaps that are not are covered in the research and where we can be useful. Patience and above all curiosity, which is what motivates the researcher a lot.

– How many hours a week do you dedicate to research?

– All, many hours. You try to combine your work with family and friends, but you try to spend as much time as you can here, because on top of that, in some way, you consider it as a hobby more than a job. In my case, I enjoy both teaching and research.

– What have you and your UR department achieved in these two long decades of work?

– In our particular case we have managed to go from a very basic science, synthesis of small molecules, to a much more applied science, for example the contribution that Chemistry can have against cancer. We have designed several cancer vaccines that work very well in mice, although, of course, we have not gone beyond that level; and we are currently also working on early tumor detection systems, both from the State Research Plan and European ones. Also another, the Innova 2023 project, of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC) to develop systems for the early detection of tumors, particularly of the pancreas and prostate. Regarding the field of vaccine design, we have, apart from national and European funding, with two projects -Dirnano and ITN-ProteinConjugates- we have had a Japanese project, from the Mizutani Foundation for Glycoscience, for the development of a vaccine based on nanomaterials derived from carbon . They would be vaccines for cancer in general, but therapeutic. They are not vaccines to prevent the disease, but once cancer is detected, inoculate these vaccines designed to train the patient’s immune system so that it is able to selectively destroy tumor cells. This has already been tested on mice, we collaborate with Cibir, and it works perfectly. We have patented a vaccine and also a system for detecting pancreatic cancer using a biosensor.

– Is there more confidence in advances in early diagnosis, which is key, or even in the cure of cancer?

– I believe that the progress is even, in both directions. As a result of the Covid vaccines, new messenger RNA vaccines are being designed, with which it is assumed that within a while we will also be able to combat cancer. A lot of progress is also being made at the detection level.

– Talking about deadlines is impossible, right?

– Yes, it is impossible. There is not enough time, but let’s say that, for now, we are going in the right direction for both things, for the early detection and future cure of cancer. We are on the right path, we know more and more. Fortunately, there are more research groups working and every year a grain of sand is added and a new step is climbed. We’re going well, but there’s no time.