Dr. Katia Aviña Padilla
Awards
About me
Dr. Katia Aviña-Padilla is a Mexican scientist specializing in systems and regulatory genomics, with a research focus on plant pathogen genomics — including viroids, phytoplasmas, and begomoviruses — and viral metagenomics. She holds a doctorate from CINVESTAV-LANGEBIO, with research stays at the USDA-ARS and UNAM's Instituto de Matemáticas, and completed postdoctoral work at UNAM (DGAPA) and CINVESTAV-Irapuato on the pospiviroid–tomato pathosystem. A Fulbright-COMEXUS alumna (University of Illinois) and SNII Level I researcher since 2019, she has authored over 30 indexed publications (H-index 11) and was recognized as "Mujer Sinaloense Destacada" in 2022. She is the founder and CEO of BioCódigo SAS, a bioinformatics and AI company in México, and coordinates the Technical and Scientific Committees of RIABIA-pro (CYTED network). Her work bridges rigorous genomics research with entrepreneurship and science communication for Latin American audiences.
Dr. Katia Aviña-Padilla is a Mexican scientist originally from Sinaloa, specializing in bioinformatics, computational biology, systems biology, and artificial intelligence applied to the biosciences. She earned her degree in Biotechnological Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora (ITSON), graduating summa cum laude and receiving the National Agrobio México Award for the best undergraduate thesis in Agricultural Biotechnology. She went on to complete a doctorate in Biotechnology Sciences at CINVESTAV's Advanced Genomics Unit, where she developed innovative computational methodologies for the study of viroid-associated plant diseases — work recognized internationally with the Travel Grant Award from the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB).
Her scientific career has included a visiting research position at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a DGAPA postdoctoral fellowship at UNAM's Institute of Neurobiology (Juriquilla campus), a visiting researcher appointment at UNAM's Institute of Mathematics (Juriquilla), and a Fulbright-COMEXUS fellowship as a visiting professor at the University of Illinois, United States. Since 2019, she has been a member of Mexico's National System of Researchers (SNII, Level I), and in 2022 she was honored as a "Distinguished Sinaloan Woman" for her scientific and technological contributions with social impact.
Dr. Aviña-Padilla has authored more than 30 indexed scientific and outreach publications, along with multiple book chapters and science communication articles, and has mentored undergraduate and graduate students throughout her career. She has delivered more than 40 courses, workshops, and keynote lectures across Mexico, the United States, Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, Argentina, and other Latin American countries, establishing herself as a reference in bioinformatics, multi-omic analysis, and artificial intelligence applied to the biosciences. Her research integrates transcriptomics, genomics, interactomics, molecular evolution, and complex network analysis to investigate the regulatory mechanisms underlying complex diseases in plants and humans. Within technology development, she has contributed to the creation of computational tools such as IGPredictor GENESIS™, designed for the identification and characterization of intronless genes in eukaryotic genomes.
She is the CEO and Founder of BioCódigo, a scientific and technological startup focused on bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, and biological data analysis, dedicated to specialized training, science communication, and the development of computational solutions applied to the biosciences, health, and the environment. Through this work, she has built academic and scientific collaborations with national and international institutions including CINVESTAV, UNAM, Tecnológico de Monterrey, UDLAP, the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), the University of Panama, and the Peruvian Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Citizenship, as well as international networks and consortia such as ViroiDOC (Horizon Europe) and RIABIA-pro. She currently also serves as a collaborating researcher in the Bioinformatics area of CINVESTAV's Department of Cell Biology.
Degrees:
Analysis of Disinfectant Efficacy Against Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus: Surface and Method Effects in Greenhouse Production. Agronomy, 16(1), 15. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy16010015
Intronless Genes. In: Wenkel, S. (eds) Microproteins. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2992. Humana, New York, NY.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-5013-4
11
Hormone-bHLH Regulatory Networks in Solanaceae: Phylogenomics Insights from PSTVd-Tomato Interactions. In: Song, G. (eds) Comparative
Genomics. RECOMB-CG 2025. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 15666. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-94928-9
21
_
associated variants and transmission features of ToBRFV isolate from Mexico. Frontiers in Plant Science, 16,
1580000. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2025.1580000.
Rojo, C., Guadron-Llanos, A. M., Aviña-Padilla, K *
., & Calderon-Zamora, L *
. (2025). Shared transcriptional regulators and network rewiring identify
therapeutic targets linking Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 12,
1621413. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmolb.2025.1621413
transcription factors in the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd)-tomato pathosystem using network approaches. PLOS ONE, 20(5),
e0318573. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318573.
REvolutionH-tl: Reconstruction of Evolutionary Histories tool. (2024) RECOMB-CG 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 14616. Springer,
Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-58072-7
5.
Tomato brown rugose fruit virus in solanaceae hosts (2024). Revista Mexicana de Fitopatologia. DOI: 10.18781/R.MEX.FIT.2023-5.
of Candida tropicalis in Response to Isoespintanol Treatment (2023). Journal of Fungi, 9, 1199. https://doi.org/10.3390/jof9121199.
Berrio M, Pico Gonzalez A, Ariza González AR, Aviña Padilla K, Rodriguez Paez LA (2023). Optimal Laboratory Cultivation Conditions of Limnospira
maxima for Large-Scale Production. Biology, 12 (12):1462. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology12121462.
(2022). In Silico Prediction of Hub Genes Involved in Diabetic Kidney and COVID-19 Related Disease by Differential Gene Expression and
Interactome Analysis. Genes, 13, 2412. https://doi.org/10.3390/genes13122412.
Mexico: A landscape of viroids origin and endemic species epidemiology, Cells, 11, 3487. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells11213487
paraneoplastic cutaneous disorder in mantle cell lymphoma. International Journal of Cancer Therapy DOI: 10.31487/j.IJCST.2022.02.01
Insights into the Transcriptional Reprogramming in Tomato Response to PSTVd Variants Using Network Approaches International Journal of
Molecular Sciences 23(11):5983. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23115983
Deciphering the tissue-specific regulatory role of intronless genes across cancers. Lectures Note in Computer Science Book Series LNBI, volumen
13234 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06220-9
Echavarría A., Angulo-Rojo C. (2022). Profiling of circulating chromosome 21-encoded microRNAs, miR-155 and Let-7c, in Down Syndrome.
Molecular Genetics and Genomic Medicine 10(6):e1938. https://doi.org/10.1002/mgg3.193
(2021). Evolutionary perspective and expresión analysis of intronless genes highlight the conservation of their regulatory role. Frontiers in
Genetics (12) 1101. https://doi.org/10.3389/fgene.2021.654256
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2020.0072
Mexico: clinical case report of mycrocephaly associated with the virus. Archivos de neurociencias 24 (1) 35-45.
https://doi.org/10.31157/an.v24i1.173
genes involved in flower and fruit development. Viruses 10 (10) 516. https://doi.org/10.3390/v10100516
(2015). In silico prediction and validation of potential gene targets for pospiviroid-derived small RNAs during tomato infection. Gene
564:197–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gene.2015.03.076
Lethal Yellowing disease affecting date palms (Phoenix dactilyfera) in central Mexico. Bulleting of Insectology 64: 221-22.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcs.2009.06.005
“Candidatus Phytoplasma aurantifolia”
. Phytoparasitica 37:381-384. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12600-009-0040-9
Mexican potatoes. Virology Journal 6:48 https://doi.org/10.1186/1743-422X-6-48
diseases of ornamental cacti in Mexico. Journal of Biological Sciences 9(3): 268-271. DOI: 10.3923/jbs.2009.268.271
Revista Mexicana de Fitopatología 26:2: 188-190.