Rafael J. Yáñez-Muñoz is Professor of Advanced Therapy and Director of the Royal Holloway Centre of Gene and Cell Therapy at the Department of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Rafael received his BSc and PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. Following appointments with MRC/Imperial College, University College London, Queen Mary’s University of London and King’s College London, he now leads the Advanced Gene and Cell Therapy lab (AGCTlab.org) at Royal Holloway. He is also the outgoing President (2021-2025) of the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy. Rafael was Editor-in-Chief of Gene Therapy (2017-2020), where he promoted the internationalization of the journal and EDI in senior editing roles and the editorial board. Rafael also believes it is very important to engage with the wider society, was a Trustee and then Chair of Trustees of the Genetic Alliance UK (2015-2020) and has organised a yearly outreach event on Rare Disease Day from 2011. Rafael’s laboratory currently works on novel therapies for ataxia telangiectasia and spinal muscular atrophy.
