Marta Moya Jódar

Dr. Marta Moya-Jódar is a postdoctoral researcher in the Toepfer Group at the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (CVM). Her research is dedicated to finding a cure for Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA)—the most common hereditary ataxia, affecting approximately 1 in 25,000 to 50,000 individuals. FA is a progressive neuromuscular disorder that typically manifests between the ages of 5 and 15 and frequently leads to cardiomyopathy, contributing significantly to patient morbidity and mortality.

Dr. Moya-Jódar’s work focuses on modeling FA-associated cardiomyopathy using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs). Through this platform, she investigates the underlying molecular phenotype of the disease and explores innovative therapeutic strategies, aiming to translate her findings into meaningful clinical advances.

Prior to joining the University of Oxford, Dr. Moya-Jódar conducted her doctoral and postdoctoral research in the Department of Regenerative Medicine at CIMA-Universidad de Navarra (Spain). There, she specialised in the naïve conversion of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and their application in generating human-animal chimeras. This work aimed to assess the developmental potential of naïve hiPSCs within embryos, with the long-term goal of creating humanised organs to address the shortage of transplantable organs.