Luis Toronjo-Urquiza

Dr Luis Toronjo-Urquiza

Director Master of Biopharmaceutical Eng., Discipline Lead for Bioprocess Eng., Deputy Director of Outreach

School of Chemical Engineering

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


I attained my degree in Biochemistry at the University of Seville (Spain). As part of this, I spent my final 2 academic years abroad. First at the Department of Agriculture at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy), studying Food Process Engineering, and second, at Hawaii Pacific University in the United States, studying Physical Chemistry and Molecular Biology.

Following this, I completed my Master of Biological and Bioprocess Engineering at The University of Sheffield, focusing my research on the study of microalgae biomass production and disruption by alternative technologies.

I then completed my PhD in biopharmaceutical production, specialising in production, purification and analytical characterisation of recombinant monoclonal antibodies in mammalian cells.

Subsequently, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Sheffield Hallam University in a collaborative program, studying the effect of food polyphenols on inflammatory pathways of 3D human cartilage tissue cultures.

Most recently, I am honoured to have been offered a position as a lecturer at the University of Adelaide School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials.

My experience across Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy the USA and Spain has enabled me to work in the interface of Biomedical Engineering, Industrial Bioprocessing and Analytical Biochemistry. Some of my areas of interest are:

- The development of new processes for the extraction of natural-origin pharmaceutical products
- The transformation of industrial waste into secondary high-value food and pharmaceutical products
- The study of stability and formulation of pharmaceuticals
- The advance and optimisation of current processes such as beer and wine fermentation.

  • Journals

    Year Citation
    2024 Kalyvas, J. T., Wang, Y., Toronjo-Urquiza, L., Stachura, D. L., Yu, J., Horsley, J. R., & Abell, A. D. (2024). A New Gramicidin S Analogue with Potent Antibacterial Activity and Negligible Hemolytic Toxicity. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 67(13), 10774-10782.
    DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC1
    2024 Beckett, L. J., Williams, P. M., Toh, L. S., Hessel, V., Gerstweiler, L., Fisk, I., . . . Chauhan, V. M. (2024). Advancing insights into microgravity induced muscle changes using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism. npj Microgravity, 10(1), 12 pages.
    DOI
    2024 Toronjo-Urquiza, L., Besford, Q. A., & Falconer, R. J. (2024). Interactions between small organic molecules and water measured using pressure perturbation calorimetry. Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, 149(17), 9223-9231.
    DOI
    2024 Klose, J. W., Begbie, A. J., Toronjo-Urquiza, L., & Pukala, T. L. (2024). Native Mass Spectrometric Insights into the Formation and Stability of DNA Triplexes. Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, 35(3), 613-621.
    DOI Scopus1
    2022 Schini, M., Peel, N., Toronjo-Urquiza, L., Thomas, E., Salam, S., Khwaja, A., . . . Walsh, J. S. (2022). Evaluation of estimated glomerular function (eGFR) versus creatinine clearance (CrCl) to predict acute kidney injury when using zoledronate for the treatment of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis International, 33(3), 737-744.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS6 Europe PMC5
    2020 Toronjo-Urquiza, L., Acosta-Martin, A. E., James, D. C., Nagy, T., & Falconer, R. J. (2020). Resveratrol addition to CHO cell culture media: The effect on cell growth, monoclonal antibody synthesis and its chemical modification.. Biotechnology progress, 36(3), 1-9.
    DOI Scopus9 WoS7 Europe PMC3
    2020 Toronjo-Urquiza, L., Acosta-Martin, A. E., James, D. C., Nagy, T., & Falconer, R. J. (2020). The use of catechins in Chinese hamster ovary cell media for the improvement of monoclonal antibody yields and a reduction of acidic species.. Biotechnology progress, 36(4), 1-10.
    DOI Scopus12 WoS7 Europe PMC4
    2019 Delcastillo-Andrés, Ó., Toronjo-Hornillo, L., & Toronjo-Urquiza, L. (2019). Effects of fall training program on automatization of safe motor responses during backwards falls in school-age children. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(21), 1-11.
    DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC1
    2019 Toronjo Urquiza, L., James, D. C., Nagy, T., & Falconer, R. J. (2019). Screening Naturally Occurring Phenolic Antioxidants for Their Suitability as Additives to CHO Cell Culture Media Used to Produce Monoclonal Antibodies.. Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland), 8(6), 1-18.
    DOI Scopus13 WoS9 Europe PMC3
  • Conference Papers

    Year Citation
    2022 Schini, M., Peel, N., Toronjo-Urquiza, L., Thomas, E., Salam, S., Khwaja, A., . . . Walsh, J. (2022). Renal Safety Of Zoledronic Acid In Patients With Borderline Kidney Function At A Metabolic Bone Centre In The United Kingdom. In JOURNAL OF BONE AND MINERAL RESEARCH Vol. 37 (pp. 271). WILEY.
    2021 Schini, M., Peel, N., Toronjo-Urquiza, L., Thomas, E., Salam, S., Khwaja, A., . . . Walsh, J. (2021). RENAL SAFETY OF ZOLEDRONIC ACID IN PATIENTS WITH BORDERLINE KIDNEY FUNCTION AT A METABOLIC BONE CENTRE IN THE UK. In OSTEOPOROSIS INTERNATIONAL Vol. 32 (pp. S194-S195). SPRINGER LONDON LTD.
  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Physical Stability and Solubility of mRNA Lipid Nanoparticles for use in Vaccines and Therapeutic Products - The Role of Organic Excipients Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Sophie Kate Oerlemans
    2023 Principal Supervisor Whole Organism Analytics using Free-Living Nematodes - Astropharmacy Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Miss Laura Jasmine Beckett
    2023 Principal Supervisor Development of Analyte sensitive Fluorescent Aerogels for Space Applications. Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Miss Alexandra Nia Thomas
    2023 Co-Supervisor Investigation into the physical stability of the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) used for RNA delivery Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Franz Wagner Laurett Veras
    2022 Co-Supervisor Design of Ready-to-Inject Aqueous Formulations of RNA-Lipid Nanoparticles Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Jaslene Anne Francis
  • Position: Director Master of Biopharmaceutical Eng., Discipline Lead for Bioprocess Eng., Deputy Director of Outreach
  • Phone: 83133200
  • Email: luis.toronjo-urquiza@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Santos, floor First Floor
  • Room: 113
  • Org Unit: School of Chemical Engineering

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