Institution: CABD
Research Groups: Sy(stem)s Developmental Biology
Position: María de Maeztu Group Leader / Ramon y Cajal Researcher
Home page: https://systemsdevbiolab.com/
Contact email: ecamagu@us.es
BCB Committee: No committees assigned.
BCB Community: Mathematical modeling in computational biology, Omics data analysis and function, Bioinformatics tools, benchmarks and data visualization
BCB Tools: No tools assigned.
BCB Services:
Research topics: Development, Gene regulatory networks, Pathway analysis, Data Visualization, Image analysis, Expression Profiling, RNA Sequencing (RNA-seq), Single-cell (scRNA-seq), Bioinformatics education, Analysis packages (R, Python, etc.), Annotation tools, High-performance Computing, Parallel Computing
Biography: Elena completed a 5-year degree in Mathematics at the University of Seville, completing two undergraduate research fellowships in the Department of Algebra under the supervision of Prof. Fco. Jesús Castro-Jiménez and Prof. Antonio Rojas. Funded by a La Caixa Foundation Scholarship and an EPSRC doctoral Scholarship, she completed an MSc and PhD in Interdisciplinary Mathematics under the supervision of Prof. David A. Rand. Her work focused on mathematically formalizing the Waddington landscape metaphor, and she leveraged this novel mathematical framework to study C. elegans vulval development and murine trunk development, the latter in collaboration with Prof. James Briscoe (UK) and Prof. Eric Siggia (USA). In March 2018, she joined Prof. Aryeh Warmflash’s lab at Rice University to gain first-hand experimental experience in stem cell research and bioengineering techniques. In November 2023, she started her lab at the Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD) as a María de Maeztu Junior Group Leader. Since August 2025, she is also a Ramón y Cajal Researcher in the Department of Applied Mathematics I at the University of Seville, where she teaches at the School of Computer Sciences, and a member of the Mathematics Institute of the University of Seville (IMUS). With a multidisciplinary mindset, our lab leverages in vitro experimental studies with stem cells, bioengineering techniques, and novel mathematical modeling approaches to study how cells interact and interpret dynamic signaling in time and space to create precise patterns during human embryonic development.
Publications
Camacho-Aguilar, E., Yoon, S. T., Ortiz-Salazar, M. A., Du, S., Guerra, M. C., & Warmflash, A. (2024). Combinatorial interpretation of BMP and WNT controls the decision between primitive streak and extraembryonic fates. Cell Systems, 15(5), 445-461.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2024.04.001
Sempou, E., Kostiuk, V., Zhu, J., Cecilia Guerra, M., Tyan, L., Hwang, W., Camacho-Aguilar, E., Caplan, M. J., Zenisek, D., Warmflash, A., Owens, N. D. L., & Khokha, M. K. (2023). Author Correction: Membrane potential drives the exit from pluripotency and cell fate commitment via calcium and mTOR. Nature Communications, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39025-z
Sáez, M., Blassberg, R., Camacho-Aguilar, E., Siggia, E. D., Rand, D. A., & Briscoe, J. (2022). Statistically derived geometrical landscapes capture principles of decision-making dynamics during cell fate transitions. Cell Systems, 13(1), 12-28.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cels.2021.08.013
Sempou, E., Kostiuk, V., Zhu, J., Cecilia Guerra, M., Tyan, L., Hwang, W., Camacho-Aguilar, E., Caplan, M. J., Zenisek, D., Warmflash, A., Owens, N. D. L., & Khokha, M. K. (2022). Membrane potential drives the exit from pluripotency and cell fate commitment via calcium and mTOR. Nature Communications, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-34363-w
Camacho-Aguilar, E., Warmflash, A., & Rand, D. A. (2021). Quantifying cell transitions inC. eleganswith data-fitted landscape models. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.22.426019
Sáez, M., Blassberg, R., Camacho-Aguilar, E., Siggia, E. D., Rand, D., & Briscoe, J. (2021). A quantitative landscape of cell fate transitions identifies principles of cellular decision-making. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.11.434982
Insights into mammalian morphogen dynamics from embryonic stem cell systems. (2020). Gradients and Tissue Patterning, 279–305. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.ctdb.2019.11.010
Research lines: