Dr Alberto Amarilla Ortiz, PhD, is a molecular virologist specialising in emerging and neurotropic RNA viruses. He obtained his PhD in Immunology from the University of São Paulo and completed five postdoctoral appointments, including at the University of São Paulo and University of Queensland. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO’s Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness. His research integrates molecular virology, synthetic biology, and translational biotechnology to understand and engineer viral systems. He has contributed to vaccine platforms, antibody discovery, and antiviral development, and pioneered the expansion of Circular Polymerase Extension Reaction (CPER) across multiple RNA virus families, enabling high-resolution mapping of viral fitness and pathogenic determinants. He has also developed high-throughput viral quantification methods and experimental models to study neurotropic virus pathogenesis, including SARS-CoV-2–associated neuroinflammation and brain ageing. His work is reflected in >80 peer-reviewed publications, including contributions to journals within the MDPI editorial group. His contributions have been recognised internationally. In Paraguay, he received the Branislava Susnik Award, was named Distinguished Citizen of Benjamín Aceval, and awarded the National Prize for Science. In Australia, he was finalist for the Eureka Prize and recipient of the UQ Award for Excellence in Innovation.