Yelina Ortiz Pérez graduated in Biology from the University of Alcalá in Madrid in 2014 and obtained her Master’s in Molecular Biology and Biomedicine from UC/UPV in 2015. Following this period, she continued working in the laboratory of Dr. Juan Mª García Lobo, where she had completed her Master’s thesis under the supervision of Dr. Félix J. Sangari García. In February 2016, she was awarded a predoctoral fellowship from UC to carry out her doctoral thesis titled “The panoply of Brucella: Search for effectors of the Type IV Secretion System and Characterization of Lysosome Inhibitors”, under the supervision of Dr. Félix J. Sangari García and Dr. Matxalen Llosa Blas.
During her PhD, she completed a three-month research stay in the laboratory of Dr. Brett Lindenbach in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale University (USA). This stay allowed her to further develop her expertise in handling Risk Group 3 (RG3) pathogenic microorganisms, performing cell culture techniques and infections with RG3 viruses such as YFV and HCV, and participating in several specialized courses offered by Yale University. Thanks to this experience, she participated in the start-up of the NCB3 laboratory at IBBTEC.
After earning her PhD in January 2020, she continued working at IBBTEC with various research groups, consistently involved in projects related to Risk Group 2 and 3 pathogens. Since then, she has been specializing in biosafety, completing several training courses. In 2023, she joined the NCB2 and NCB3 microbiology laboratories as a Technical Support Specialist through a PTA grant, contributing to both research projects and the organizational management of the laboratories. Additionally, since November 2023, she has been a member of the IBBTEC Biosafety Committee.