Rate My Professor Maria Gonzalez

Maria Gonzalez Porras serves as an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering and Physiology from the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. As a former international student from Colombia, Gonzalez Porras completed her doctoral studies before joining UTSA, where she previously held a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering. During her postdoctoral work she received the NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32) for 2020–2023. Her academic appointments at UTSA include her current role leading research in adipose tissue biology.

Gonzalez Porras focuses her research on thermogenic adipose tissue, the extracellular matrix, and the metabolic processes underlying cancer cachexia, particularly the rapid loss of fat that occurs in affected patients. She investigates how fat tissue initiates wasting before other organs and explores nanotechnology approaches to modulate fat cell metabolism for improved patient outcomes. Gonzalez Porras has received multiple honors including the 2024 Voelcker Foundation Early Career Pilot Award in Cancer, the 2024 Vanderbilt Vibrant Travel Award, the 2023 First Place UNM CTSC Bioventure Award with patent disclosure, the 2023 Gordon Research Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering Travel Award, the 2023 Mays Cancer Center Early Career Pilot Award, and earlier undergraduate honors such as the First Undergraduate Laureate Thesis at her institution. She supports Ph.D. and undergraduate students in her laboratory through funded projects and contributes to advancing understanding of fat metabolism in disease contexts.