Keynote Speakers

Prof. Nina Gunde-Cimerman is the first to discover halophilic and halotolerant fungi in hypersaline environments around the world. She is also the first to discover psychrophilic and psychrotolerant fungi in Arctic glaciers (Svalbard, Norway), in particular in the subglacial environment and on the Greenland Ice Sheet, but also in extreme domestic environments, represented by household appliances (as exemplified by dishwashers) and in environments previously considered abiotic – bitterns, magnesium rich waters in the salterns, where she identified a new category of extremophiles: chaophilic fungi.

Wenbo Ma is a Senior Group Leader at the Sainsbury Laboratory (UK). Her research contributes to the advancement of fundamental knowledge of microbial pathogenesis, plant immunity, and host-pathogen coevolution. She is internationally recognized for her outstanding research on pathogen effectors, which has led to the discovery of crucial virulence strategies for inducing disease in host plants.

Dr Neus Teixidó, senior research scientist, is the Director of Postharvest Department at IRTA, and the coordinator of the Plant Health HUB for the organization and harmonization of Plant Health Research in Catalonia. Her research activity includes the control of postharvest diseases of fruits using several physical, chemical and biological alternative techniques, the study of epidemiology, and fruit-pathogen interactions in different pathosystems. She has over 30 years of experience in the development of biocontrol agents.