Elena Santiago

Elena Santiago is a Professor at the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio) under the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) since 2018. She also holds external professor status at the Santa Fe Institute (USA) and has previously served as an Adjunct Professor at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS). Her research focuses on RNA virus evolution, virus-host interactions, and mathematical modeling of viral population dynamics.

• Biochemistry Degree
• PhD in Evolutionary Molecular Genetics of RNA viruses from the University of Valencia
• Postdoctoral fellowship in microbial experimental evolution at Michigan State University

Her work integrates experimental evolution, molecular biology, omics approaches, and computational modeling to study how RNA viruses adapt to hosts and manipulate cellular resources. Recent studies highlight viral transitions from parasitism to mutualism under environmental stress, transcriptomic/epigenomic reprogramming in plant defenses, and the role of transmission modes in viral population structure.

Santiago's research has led to over 270 publications with 18,907 citations (H=69) and >300 conference contributions. She has secured 30 grants from prestigious institutions like EMBO, NSF, and EU FP7, and her work includes >80 invited seminars globally.

• Elected EMBO Young Investigator (2005)
• Young Virologist Award (2006)
• Elected EMBO Member (2011)
• Elected member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2020)

She has supervised 23 PhD theses and 20 postdocs, and her lab collaborates internationally. Research contracts with industry total over €16 million, reflecting the translational impact of her work in systems virology.