Dr. Sonia Mayra Pérez Tapia is a prominent figure in immunotechnology in Mexico, with more than 25 years of experience in the research, development, evaluation, and regulation of biological products for human health. She is founder and Executive Director of the Unidad de Desarrollo e Investigación en Bioterapéuticos (UDIBI-IPN), the first laboratory of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional recognized as an Authorized Third Party by COFEPRIS and today one of the laboratories with the greatest technological impact in the development of health supplies in Mexico.
Trained at the country’s two most important public institutions, Dr. Pérez Tapia holds a Pharmaceutical Biologist degree from the Faculty of Chemistry at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and a PhD in Immunology from the National School of Biological Sciences at the IPN. She is a full-time professor-researcher at IPN and has taught applied immunology at UNAM for over 25 years. She has supervised more than 90 students and published over 130 high-impact scientific papers. She is inventor of a nationally commercialized patent with active protections in Mexico, the United States, and more than 43 countries, as well as five additional granted patents and thirteen pending applications.
Her translational innovation vision has generated concrete solutions for Mexico’s health system. She has led the discovery, development, and optimization of fully Mexican technologies, including
- Transferon®, the first immunomodulator authorized in Mexico;
- UDITEST-V2G®, a diagnostic kit for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies approved for commercialization;
- an anti-PD1 therapeutic antibody, the first successful IPN technology transfer to the national pharmaceutical industry, currently in clinical development for oncology treatments.
She has been recognized by Forbes as one of Mexico’s 100 Most Powerful Women (2020–2021). She currently leads the CAR-T México project in collaboration with public institutions and plays a key role in strengthening biotechnology regulation through contributions to standards such as NOM-177 and participation in technical committees of COFEPRIS and the Farmacopea de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
She directs the LANSEIDI-FarBiotec National Laboratory, promoting a regulatory and scientific innovation model with strategic market vision. She has represented Mexico before the World Intellectual Property Organization and the Korean Intellectual Property Office and participates in various scientific and innovation councils and initiatives.
Her work has been fundamental in strengthening technological sovereignty, industrial competitiveness, and equitable access to health technologies in Mexico, positioning the country as an emerging player in innovative biotherapeutics and in building a health innovation ecosystem linking science, industry, and public policy.