Elena trained as a pharmacist at University of Padua and built her early career at the intersection of science and strategy — from Fidia Farmaceutici to GlaxoWellcome/GSK, where she worked in Licensing & Business Development across Neuroscience and Vaccines. She went on to lead IRB (Istituto di Ricerche Biotecnologiche) as CEO through a significant turnaround and its acquisition by Croda International Ltd. In 2016 she founded PlantaRei Biotech, driven by a conviction that the most powerful ingredients are often hiding in plain sight — in endogenous molecules the body already knows, and in agricultural by-products we have long discarded. The company's work spans two platforms: GPI, an endogenous molecule with a unique modulation mechanism, and Upcycled Botanica, a circular economy ingredient line rooted in the biodiversity as in Pantelleria and Sicily. Her latest venture, Omexa Therapeutics, continues this journey into bioactive molecule valorisation.
Vice President of Federchimica Assobiotec for the third mandate, with responsibility of Bioeconomy, and Contract Professor at the University of Padova, she is inventor or many patents and sits on scientific and academic committees shaping Italy's biotech ecosystem. Winner of the #GreenBiotech Tecnovisionarie 2020 award, she has been repeatedly named among Startup Italia's Unstoppable Women.