Head of Department
Ester Lázaro holds a PhD in Biological Sciencesobtained at the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid. After a postdoctoral stay at the Institute of Neurobiology “Santiago Ramón y Cajal” and an experience of two years in the pharmaceutical industry, she returned to basic research at the Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), where she has spent more than twenty years conducting studies that help understand the dynamics and molecular basis of biological adaptation. She currently occupies a position as a scientific researcher at this center, where she directs the group “Experimental evolution studies with viruses and microorganisms”.
Throughout her career, she has published a good number of scientific articles in international journals and has made numerous presentations at conferences and congresses. Her more relevant lines of research include the study of the adaptive mechanisms of RNA viruses to adverse environmental conditions, such as increased temperature, ultraviolet radiation, limitation in the number of hosts, or increased replication error rate. She also collaborates as a teacher, giving classes in master degrees, teacher training courses or high schools. She combines these activities with an intense dissemination effort to bring science closer to the general public, through conferences, articles in press and participation in radio and television programs. She is the author of the books “Emerging viruses. The hidden threat” and the most recent “Life. A journey towards complexity in the Universe.”
ORCID: 0000-0001-7477-7822
| Key words | molecular evolution, experimental evolution, RNA viruses, adaptation, error rate, bacteriophages |
