Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

Alejandra Manjarrez joined Drug Discovery News as an assistant editor in 2023. She earned her PhD from ETH Zurich, Switzerland, in 2018, and has written for The Scientist, Science, Knowable Magazine, The Atlantic, and others. She is an inveterate reader and dancer, and likes travelling.

Articles by Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

Illustrations of multiple coronavirus structures in red emerge from the mouth of a man.

Nov 08, 2023|4 min read

By Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

COVID-19 severity ties to testosterone metabolism

Inhibiting an enzyme variant that contributes to severe COVID-19 in men holds promise for treating SARS-CoV-2 infections.

Confocal image showing the cytoskeleton of peritubular myoid cells differentiated in vitro from human induced pluripotent stem cells; smooth muscle actin 2 is in red, F-actin in blue, tubulin beta III in green, and nuclei in cyan.

Oct 27, 2023|3 min read

By Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

Unlocking fertility’s secret recipe using lab-created cells

In a step towards understanding spermatogenesis and infertility, researchers created testicular cells that are key to sperm transport from human stem cells.

An illustration showing an antibody (yellow) blocking the T cell transmembrane protein PD-1 (red).

Oct 24, 2023|4 min read

By Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

How gut microbes meddle with cancer immunotherapy

By investigating how gut bacteria influence immunotherapy responses in mice, researchers found a molecule involved in treatment resistance.

An illustration showing two pairs of hands, where one of them holds a kidney that seems to be offered to the other.

Oct 03, 2023|4 min read

By Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

Targeting T cells to fight chronic transplant rejection

Certain T cells may offer potential therapeutic targets for prolonging organ survival in kidney transplant recipients.

An illustration showing colorful protein structures on a dark blue background.

Sep 21, 2023|3 min read

By Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

AlphaFold developers honored with the 2023 Lasker Award

Demis Hassabis and John Jumper received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award for developing technology that predicts the 3D structures of proteins.

A photo of Piet Borst in an office, wearing a white shirt and a black jacket.

Sep 21, 2023|3 min read

By Alejandra Manjarrez, PhD

Piet Borst receives the Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award

The Lasker Foundation honored Piet Borst for his outstanding research, leadership, and mentorship across various fields, including cancer drug resistance.