Ermal graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Siena and completed early research training at the University of Perugia (GreenSOC). He obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Lyon “Claude Bernard” in 2017, which included a short stay at the University of Oxford. He then joined KU Leuven as a postdoctoral researcher, first in the Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences and later in the MolDesignS group as a Marie Curie–FWO fellow. During this period, he also carried out a research stay at CICbiomaGUNE.

In 2022, Ermal joined the Molecular and Functional Biomarkers group at CICbiomaGUNE led by Prof. Jesús Ruiz-Cabello as a Gipuzkoa Fellow Research Associate. He (co)directed 5 PhD and 5 Master’s theses, acted as (co)PI on several projects and as a PI on the AEI-funded project (SPARC).

His research expertise spans sustainable chemistry, organic synthesis, and biomedical imaging. His earlier works focused on greener routes for cross-coupling reactions, the development of bench-stable reagents in organofluorine chemistry, and sulfur–fluorine bond formation.

Currently, Ermal combines organic chemistry and molecular design to develop PET and fluorescent imaging agents for “untraceable” ion channels, with the final goal to define the role of these ion channels in diseases and their validation as potential biomarkers at preclinical level. Additionally, he is interested in developing novel synthetic methodologies for radioisotope tagging and in designing greener and more sustainable synthetic routes for accessing small molecules.

Outside the lab, Ermal is a proud father of two, enjoys hiking, cycles regularly (including commuting), and speaks six languages.