Dra. Yeny Leal Acosta

Dr. Yeny Leal Acosta is a Postdoctoral Researcher and Laboratory Manager at the INCAR² Center, University of Concepción, Chile. Her scientific career has focused on the study of fish immune responses and transcriptomics in response to various pathogens, as well as on the identification of vaccine candidates for disease control. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2013, University of Havana, Cuba), where she acquired a strong background in cellular and molecular biology. She later obtained a Master’s degree in Sciences with a specialization in Contemporary Biotechnology Trends (2017, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Havana, Cuba), gaining expertise in advanced biotechnological tools. In 2023, she earned a PhD in Sciences with a specialization in Renewable Aquatic Resources Management from the University of Concepción, consolidating her focus on aquaculture biotechnology. During her doctoral training, she developed an integrative approach combining in vitro and in vivo models in Atlantic salmon to study host–pathogen interactions, particularly involving Piscirickettsia salmonis and Caligus rogercresseyi, two pathogens with major impacts on salmon farming. She has participated as a research assistant in several FONDECYT and FONDEF projects. Currently, she leads a FONDECYT Postdoctoral project aimed at characterizing the heterogeneity of immune cells in the head kidney of Atlantic salmon infected with different P. salmonis genogroups using single-nuclei transcriptomic analysis (snRNA-seq), a key approach for studying cellular diversity within the immune system.