Katrina M Miranda

Katrina Miranda is an associate professor of biochemistry at the University of Arizona. She works on nitric oxide and their role in diseases like breast cancer, stroke and chronic pain.

Early life and education Miranda studied chemistry at Northern Arizona University. She moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara, and earned her PhD in 1996. She was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute from 1998 to 2002, before joining the University of Arizona. She looks to identify the biomarkers of disease development. They do this by investigating the molecular redox chemistry new donor systems and designing ways to detect biological signals. Nitric oxide is synthesised in the body when L-Arginine enzymatically oxidises. Miranda looked at what happens when nitric oxides accumulate, including their impact on chronic pain, strokes and breast cancer. She demonstrated that nitric oxide can modify how enzymes bind to metal centres. She published the textbook Chemical Biology of Nitric Oxide in 2008. Her research group attach chemical moieties that can improve drug delivery. In 2018 she filed a class action lawsuit against the University of Arizona for gender discrimination against women professors. She is not the first to sue the University of Arizona; emeritus dean Patricia MacCorquodale and former dean Janice Cervelli took them to court on behalf of women deans in early 2018.

Awards 2014 University of Arizona College of Science Distinguished Advising Award