Marta Casanellas Rius

Marta Casanellas Rius

Marta Casanellas Rius is a Full Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), and a researcher at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica. She teaches at the Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics, ETSEIB, and FIB. Her research focuses on applying algebraic geometry and algebraic statistics to computational biology and phylogenetics. She has held a Ramón y Cajal contract and conducted postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley under Robin Hartshorne and later collaborated with Bernd Sturmfels and Lior Pachter. Her work bridges algebraic methods with biological problems, particularly in phylogenetic tree reconstruction and evolutionary models.

Education and Career

• PhD in Mathematics (University of Barcelona, 2002) under R.M. Miró-Roig, specializing in algebraic geometry and liaison theory.
• Postdoc at UC Berkeley (2002–2003) via a Fulbright Scholarship, collaborating with Robin Hartshorne.
• Ramón y Cajal researcher at UPC (2003–present), transitioning to phylogenetics and computational biology.

Research Contributions

Casanellas has pioneered the use of algebraic techniques in phylogenetics, developing methods like SAQ for quartet-based reconstruction and contributing to model selection via invariants. Her work includes studying identifiability in evolutionary models and algebraic geometry applications to Markov processes. She co-authored the Algebraic Statistics for Computational Biology textbook chapter on phylogenetic invariants.

Academic Leadership

• Coordinator of the UPC PhD in Bioinformatics and BSc in Bioinformatics.
• Past head of the Data Science and Engineering degree at UPC (2018–2022).
• Deputy Director of Research at the Department of Mathematics, UPC (2015–2018).

Dissemination and Outreach

Active in promoting gender equality in mathematics, she chaired the Women and Mathematics Commission of the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society (2014–2017). She engages in public lectures, media appearances, and educational outreach, including talks at the Bidebarrieta Library and participation in initiatives like 100tifiques.

Grants and Collaborations

Principal investigator of three competitive Spanish government projects and co-leader of the BIO-GEOMAP research group. Collaborates on editorial boards for Systematic Biology, Journal of Algebraic Statistics, and others. Her group develops software tools like GenNon-h and SAQ for phylogenetic analysis.