Cuenca Hematologist Uses Llama Antibodies In Cancer Research In Spain

A Cuenca-born hematologist is working on cancer research in Spain with a very Andean connection: llama antibodies.

Esteban Tamariz was born in Cuenca and now works in Spain on research tied to multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood.

The Research

Tamariz received a grant last year from the Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer to advance work on more effective CAR-T cells.

The research line is planned for five years and uses antibodies from Andean llamas to sharpen how modified cells recognize and attack tumors.

CAR-T cells are T lymphocytes taken from a patient's blood, genetically modified in a laboratory, and returned to the body to act against the tumor.

From Cuenca To Navarra

Tamariz trained at the Universidad Católica de Guayaquil and later took Spain's MIR exam. In February 2016, he took the MIR in Spain, earned a hematology position at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, and moved to Pamplona with his wife and newborn son.

In January 2022, he formally joined the Clinical Trials Unit at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra. Two years later, he defended a thesis focused on immune response and Covid-19 vaccines in patients with hematological cancers.

It is a quiet but excellent Cuenca story: local roots, global medicine, and a research path that still circles back to the Andes.