Araceli Castillo Garriga studied Biological Sciences at the University of Málaga and obtained her PhD in Genetics from the same university in 2002. Between 2004 and 2008, she completed her postdoctoral training at two leading research centers in the United Kingdom: Clare Hall Laboratories (Cancer Research UK, CRUK) and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology at the University of Edinburgh. There, she specialized in studying epigenetic mechanisms that control centromere formation in yeast. In late 2008, she joined the Genetics Department at the University of Málaga, where she is currently an Associate Professor of Genetics and a member of the Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture “La Mayora” (IHSM), a joint center between the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the University of Málaga (UMA).

At present, she leads a research group focused on understanding the role of genetic and epigenetic modifications in plants in response to biotic stresses such as infections by viruses and phytopathogenic bacteria.