February 2, 2026
Kevin Ramirez, Mechanical Engineering
Kevin Ramirez Builds Scalable Biotechnologies for Impact
A first-generation scientist from a working-class immigrant family, Kevin Ramirez is motivated by building scalable biotechnologies with real-world impact.
“Education was framed as the one thing that could change everything, which pushed me toward building technologies that translate knowledge into impact,” he said.
As an undergraduate, he discovered a passion for engineering proteins and biological systems to solve complex problems. “I realized I wasn’t just learning biology; I was designing and experimenting with proteins in ways that could eventually be applied to real-world challenges, which inspired me to pursue graduate studies.”
Ramirez chose UC Merced for its research excellence, affordability, and mission as a Hispanic-serving Institution that supports students from working-class backgrounds. He values the campus’s growth: “There’s real space to take initiative and make a visible impact,” he said.
Under Professor Victor Muñoz’s mentorship in the Muñoz Lab — renowned for protein biophysics, folding, and biosensor design — Ramirez has led projects, mentored undergraduates in both technique and execution, and developed rigorous, high-impact scientific thinking. “Professor Muñoz consistently challenges me to aim higher,” Ramirez said, crediting the mentorship with inspiring ambitious, high-impact ideas.
His doctoral research focuses on the development of a modular, amplification-free biosensing platform based on designed fluorescent decoy proteins that directly bind molecular targets and generate an immediate optical signal. The work emphasizes building a generalizable detection architecture that can be rapidly adapted to new targets rather than single-use assays.
As a proof of concept, Ramirez applied the platform to viral detection in his project “One-Shot Fluorescent Biosensor for Viral Detection.” In collaboration with Professor Eugenio Vázquez at the University of Santiago de Compostela, preliminary results demonstrated a 25,000-fold improvement in sensitivity for SARS-CoV-2 target detection without amplification or specialized equipment. The platform may be compatible with standard multi-well plate readers, supporting high-throughput and scalable diagnostic workflows with potential for rapid adaptation to emerging pathogens and other molecular targets.
Beyond the lab, Ramirez has built strong entrepreneurial credentials. As Team Lead for UC Merced’s I‑Corps program, he pitched his diagnostic concept and conducted strategic interviews to map market needs and adoption barriers. He later co‑founded Breakdown Bio Inc., a startup converting landfill methane into yeast‑based feedstocks for sustainable biomanufacturing. As Entrepreneurial Lead in the National NSF I-Corps cohort, he conducted nearly half of the 100+ customer interviews personally, uncovering opportunities in the food and beverage sector.
His entrepreneurial work led to a role with UC Merced’s Office of Technology, Innovation and Industry Relations, where he supports faculty commercialization planning and innovation efforts. “Translating lab discoveries into real-world impact feels just as important to me as the research itself,” he said.
Ramirez brings a rare combination of platform-level protein engineering, assay development, and customer-driven translation, equipping him to drive early-stage R&D from proof-of-concept to scalable deployment in biotech and biomanufacturing.
