Jan Elaine Soriano

Featured on July 19, 2026

With a spine of steel and the research to match, this week’s Pinoy Scientist is Jan Elaine Soriano, PhD a postdoctoral fellow studying spinal cord injuries at Neurorestore, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

Jan completed her Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences at Mount Royal University, Canada. After finishing her degree in 2018, she remained in Canada and immediately jumped into a PhD program for Neuroscience at the University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine. Jan finished her Master’s degree under this program in 2020, serving as an MSc Graduate student under the Laboratory of Dr. Aaron Phillips, PhD. During this period, her research primarily revolved around the neurovascular system but gradually shifted towards her current specialization in spinal cord injuries (SCIs). She continued with her studies, and completed her PhD in neuroscience in 2024 with several publications and awards to her name, including one that was published last year in Nature discussing autonomic dysreflexia, a condition where uncontrolled hypertension may occur after a spinal cord injury. The paper investigates the neuronal architecture that may underlie this condition.

Jan is currently working as a Postdoctoral fellow in Switzerland at Neurorestor of the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne. She was the recipient of three postdoctoral fellowships, namely the Wings for Life – Spinal Cord Research Foundation, Banting, and Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowships b. She is still working on SCIs, and just last year was invited to the 10x Genomics Spatial Symposium in Bern to give a talk on the subject.

Some fun facts about Jan:

• She’s a huge mood reader and absolutely loves romantasy.
• Before starting her master’s degree, she worked as an event planner and decorator for over five years.
• She’s always thinking about food—she loves both cooking and trying new things to eat.