Vinuesa obtained a
Bachelor of Medicine at the
Autonomous University of Madrid. She was awarded a
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in
Immunology by the
University of Birmingham in 2000. In 2005, she discovered a genetic variant in mice that led to an auto-immune disease. In 2014, Vinuesa was awarded a
grant, opened The Centre for Personalised Immunology at ANU. She was one of the first people in
Australia to use
genomic sequencing to link diseases to
genetic variation. In October 2020, she became a Fellow of the
Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences. In September 2021, the
Lupus Research Alliance granted one of two of its $3 million Global Team Science Awards to Vinuesa's team, led by
Dr. Virginia Pascual, to examine why
lupus differs from patient to patient. In 2022, Vinuesa relocated to the UK to take a new position at Francis Crick Institute. The following year she was elected a Fellow of the
Academy of Medical Sciences. She was awarded the JBS Haldane Lecture by
The Genetics Society in 2026.
CALM2 variant and the Kathleen Folbigg case (2018–present) In August 2018, Vinuesa received a phone call from a former student who was concerned that
Kathleen Folbigg may have been
wrongfully convicted of
infanticide. The student told her that the medical evidence presented at trial didn't "sit right" with several medical and legal experts, and thought Vinuesa's expertise in
immunogenetics may help uncover an underlying disease that caused the Folbiggs' deaths. Vinuesa noted obvious signs of common causes for
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), including
floppy larynx and
inflammation of the heart, that should have given
reasonable doubt in the face of a lack of evidence of violence. Vinuesa agreed to consult on the case in an email to Folbigg's attorneys writing, "As a mother, I cannot think of a more worthy cause," and that she found it hard to believe someone could be imprisoned over it. They discovered a mutation on a gene named
CALM2 (G114R), in a genetic family named
Calmodulin (CALM) which had previously been associated with fatal cardiac arrhythmias such as
long QT syndrome, and SUDC. A genetic simulation on CALM2 showed it was likely just as dangerous as the other variants. argued that they should use the criteria set by the
American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics for determining likelihood of
pathogenicity, which requires 90% certainty to determine if disease is a likely cause. Vinuesa rejected this as she believed it was their role to determine whether or not there was reasonable doubt that Folbigg was guilty, not whether or not Folbigg, or her late infants, should have a definitive diagnosis. One of the researchers from the AG team, Dr. Matthew Cook, agreed with Vinuesa, splitting the experts into two groups to write two reports. which contained information about a family with a nearly identical CALM variant (G114W) in which two children suffered a sudden
cardiac arrest while the mother, who had been the carrier of the gene's mutation, was seemingly healthy. He concluded he had "significant doubts" about Folbigg's conviction, and that the accusation of infanticide may have been premature. In July 2019, the presiding
judicial officer, Reginald Blanch, delivered his verdict that Folbigg would remain in prison, citing that he "preferred" the expertise and evidence of Buckley and Skinner, and excerpts from a diary which showed evidence of
postpartum depression, which Vinuesa felt showed a woman "grappling with the occasional despair of motherhood." Vinuesa reflected on society's pressure on mothers and her own experience." In 2020, Vinuesa, Arsov, Schwartz, and 24 other scientists co-authored a paper called,
Infanticide vs. inherited cardiac arrhythmias, which was published that November by
EP Europace. Folbigg's legal team used the paper as evidence in an appeal to the
Supreme Court of New South Wales, but the judges upheld Blanch's decision. On 5 June 2023, as a result of the interventions of the scientific community, Kathleen Folbigg was granted an unconditional pardon and set free, pending the quashing of the 2003 verdict.
Roula Pispirigou Case In September 2023, Vinuesa was involved in another child murder case, that of
Roula Pispirigou in
Greece, who was sentenced to three life terms for murdering her three children in
Patras. Vinuesa testified as an expert witness for the defense. In her testimony, she stated that “the multiple pathological findings in the three girls constitute reasonable medical explanations for their natural deaths and suggest a hereditary congenital liver and heart disease with variable expressiveness.” And she concludes: “There is no clinical or scientific evidence to suggest that the mother was responsible for the death of her three children.” == Awards and recognition ==