Francesc Xavier Ruiz

Dr. Ruiz Figueras is a highly skilled scientist who has made significant scientific contributions to the fields of enzymology and structural biology studying the structure and function of human and viral proteins, especially HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and human aldo-keto reductases, with an emphasis on catalysis and inhibition for drug discovery. 

He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain in 2010, followed by a postdoctoral stay at the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (France) in the lab of Dr. Alberto Podjarny. In March 2015, Dr. Ruiz Figueras was recruited to join as a postdoctoral associate to the Lab of Distinguished Professor Eddy Arnold at CABM Rutgers, followed by a Senior Researcher appointment in 2018 and his current faculty position since 2019. 

Structure and Function of Human and Viral Proteins, with an emphasis on polymerases including HIV-1 reverse transcriptase and HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 polyprotein precursors

B.S. Biochemistry, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2001, M.Sc. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2003, Ph.D. Enzymology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 2010, Postdoc – Structural Biology & Drug Discovery, Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, 2014, Postdoc – Structural Biology & Drug Discovery, CABM Rutgers University, 2018

2011 European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) short term Fellowship

2013-2014 Postdoctoral Fellowship Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale (France),

2014 Selected attendee to the 47th Course of Erice International School of Crystallography: “Structural Basis of Pharmacology: Deeper Understanding of Drug Discovery through Crystallography”, Erice, Italy

2014 Contributed talk in the 23rd Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of                     Crystallography (IUCr 2014), Montreal, Canada

2018 Best poster presentation award in the HIV DART and Emerging Viruses meeting, Miami, FL, US

2022 New Jersey Health Foundation Research Grant

Topics Board and Guest Editor for the journal “Molecules” and Guest Editor for the journal “Viruses”

Associate Editor of the journal “Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences” for the Structural Biology section

Structural basis for the high all-trans-retinaldehyde reductase activity of the tumor marker AKR1B10., Structure of the E6/E6AP/p53 complex required for HPV-mediated degradation of p53., Structural Basis of HIV-1 Inhibition by Nucleotide-Competing Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor INDOPY-1., Discovery and Characterization of Fluorine-Substituted Diarylpyrimidine Derivatives as Novel HIV-1 NNRTIs with Highly Improved Resistance Profiles and Low Activity for the hERG Ion Channel., Evolving understanding of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase structure, function, inhibition, and resistance.