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José Antonio Guerrero, a Murcia-born biochemist, certainly knows how to make a fresh start with style. After fifteen years at the University of Cambridge, he left behind the grey British skies and, joined by fellow scientist Peter Smethurst, set off on a 2,200-kilometre cycling adventure all the way to Murcia. The journey, which began on Tuesday August 20, perhaps predictably, was dogged by rain until his final pedal strokes near Orihuela. He reached the Regional Blood Donation Centre just after seven in the evening on Monday, welcomed by his wife and fellow researcher, Adriana Ordóñez.

 

“For a long time, I thought that if I ever came home, I’d do it by bike,” José confessed on his last leg from Alicante. Both he and Adriana, who also leaves Cambridge to continue her research career in Murcia, took the leap thanks to highly competitive Beatriz Galindo and Ramón y Cajal grants aimed at bringing scientific talent back to Spain.

 

José’s return is very much a homecoming. He is now part of the University of Murcia’s platelet research group, led by José Rivera, an internationally renowned team dedicated to understanding rare inherited blood disorders. “We’re talking about hereditary diseases that cause abnormal bleeding. We’ve discovered new genes involved in platelet function,” José explains, highlighting work that could eventually improve treatment for patients at risk during even routine procedures.

 

His research also branches out into creating “universal” blood - a way to remove the blood-type barriers that make matching donors so complicated. “Our aim is to eliminate antibodies from blood products so they can be given to any patient,” he says.

 

Meanwhile, Adriana, his wife, joins the scientific community at UCAM, where she brings expertise in CRISPR gene editing to study the genetic causes of disease. The couple admits it wasn’t an easy decision to leave Cambridge, but the chance to return home with their children was too important to pass up. “We said: now is the time, and we did it,” José says cheerfully.

 

As the Region of Murcia continues its tradition of scientific excellence, having pioneers like the Guerrero-Ordóñez family back on home soil is a real boost - not just for local research, but for the community too.

 

 

Image: Mabel Amber/Pexels