Dr. Belén Borrego (F, PhD in Biological Sciences, staff scientist at CISA-INIA/CSIC since Dec 2017, ORCID 0000-0002-0801-9166) has a long expertise in the study of viruses relevant for Animal Health. Most of her work has been focused on the development and improvement of different control measures, such as vaccines, antivirals and diagnostic methods, and understanding how virus variability can compromise the success of these control strategies. Her expertise goes from basic concepts on molecular virology to on field applications such as diagnostic techniques and vaccines. Of note most of her research has been conducted under BSL3 and BSL3+ environment, and involved work both in animal models and livestock. She got her PhD in 1993 at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain). Her Thesis work, directed by Dr. Esteban Domingo was focused on the variation of the main antigenic site of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus, FMDV (site A on the VP1). After some post-doc stays on i) molecular evolution (at Max-Planck-Institut in Göttingen, Germany), and ii) poxvirus as vaccine vectors (at CISA-INIA, Valdeolmos, Spain), she joined the group of Dr. Emiliana Brocchi at the National Reference Center for Vesicular Diseases at Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale IZSLER, Brescia, in Italy. The group worked on the antigenic characterization of different viruses relevant for Animal Health, including Swine Vesicular Disease Virus, FMDV, and also fish viruses such as Piscine Nodaviruses. Back to Spain, she joined the group of Dr. Francisco Sobrino, devoted to the development of new strategies for prevention and control of viral diseases, using FMDV as a model.  In 2014 she joined the BunyaVirus group at CISA lead by Dr. Alejandro Brun, aimed to develop immunization strategies against arboviruses of interest in Animal Health as well as to establish animal infection models and virus detection tools. Their work has focused mainly on Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV), as well as other viruses of interest such as Congo-Crimean hemorraghic virus (CCHFV) and Schmallenberg Virus (SBV). One of their most recent contribution is the isolation of an antiviral-resistant extremely attenuated variant of RVFV proposed to be used as live attenuated vaccine, and whose characterization is providing key information on the mechanisms of viral growth, evolution and attenuation . Her research work, participating in national and international scientific networks projects, has resulted in more than 40 publications in the most important international journals of virology, veterinary sciences and immunology, as well as two patents: one for the production of a pharmaceutical composition for the prophylaxis and/or the treatment of diseases caused by interferon-sensitive viruses, and another one for a vaccine candidate against RVF based on an attenuated virus.