Begoña Aguado Orea †

Tenured Scientist (Científica Titular) of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CBM, CSIC-UAM), with a career linked to science, technology and innovation. She graduated in Biology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), obtained her PhD from the University of Oxford and worked for thirteen years in the United Kingdom, where she was a principal investigator at the Medical Research Council (MRC) in Cambridge and specialised in the analysis of the human genome.

Back in Spain, she joined the CBM, where she was scientific head of the Genomics and Massive Sequencing service, and for four years she was scientific coordinator of the Research and Innovation Infrastructures of the UAM+CSIC Campus. During the COVID-19 pandemic she took an active part in the development of new diagnostic tests and in the analysis of viral genomes. In recent years her work focused on the One Health strategy, co-leading the research group Regulation of Gene Expression in Leishmania and applying artificial intelligence and data science tools to anticipate future pandemic threats. From February 2026 she was Vice-Rector for Research, Postgraduate Studies and Lifelong Learning at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP).

She was a beloved member of the BCBHub Executive Committee from the beginnings of the Connection, which she strongly helped to drive forward.

She passed away in June 2026. Obituary: Fallecimiento de Begoña Aguado (Conexión BCB, 19 June 2026).