MDPI International Day of Plant Health 2025
Meet Our Speakers
Prof. Dr. Horacio Heinzen
University of the Republic, Uruguay;
Horacio Heinzen holds a Doctorate (rerum naturae) from Georg August Universität, Göttingen, Germany, and has been Full Professor of Pharmacognosy & Natural Products at the Facultad de Química, Universidad de la República (UdelaR), Uruguay, since 1998. He founded and directs the Grupo de Análisis de Contaminantes Traza (GACT), Uruguay’s first academic group focused on modern trace analysis of organic contaminants. His research spans analytical method development for food and environmental contaminants, chemical food safety, authenticity, sustainability, and natural product characterization using NMR and mass spectrometry. He has supervised 20 PhD theses across Uruguay, Brazil, and Spain, authored 173 papers, 12 book chapters, and delivered over 35 invited lectures. He has led more than 25 international training courses for FAO/IAEA, LAPRW, CYTED, and others. Heinzen co-founded LAPRW, served as President of the Sociedad Latinoamericana de Fitoquímica, and held advisory roles in IUPAC and national committees. He was a Visiting Professor in Argentina, Brazil, and Spain and held a consultancy at the FAO/IAEA Joint Center (2023–2024). He holds top ranks in Uruguay’s National Research System (SNI-ANII) and PEDECIBA.
Dr. Azucena González Coloma
Institute of Agricultural Sciences,CSIC, Spain;
Dr. González Coloma (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5124-664X) is a Senior Scientific Researcher in the Department of Plant Protection of the Institute of Agricultural Sciences of the CSIC in Spain. Her line of research focuses on the biotechnological production of botanical and fungal biopesticides. Her research includes bioprospection, production and optimization of biopesticides from the flora of various regions of Spain and other parts of the world, agricultural residues and fungal endophytes. The group of biopesticides that she leads is multidisciplinary, it screens and identifies metabolites with insecticidal, antifungal and nematicidal effects. She also explores mechanisms of action and structure-activity relationships, biotechnological optimization of the production of endophyte metabolites, plant metagenomic approaches to endophyte discovery and priming effects of these active metabolites on crops. She has published more than 200 scientific articles in indexed journals, elaborated patents (11) and has directed 14 Doctoral Theses among other contributions. He has led numerous national and international research projects at national, international and cooperation levels.
Prof. Dr. Assunta Bertaccini
Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Italy;
Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna, Italy, Plant Pathology professor joined the plant pathology institute of the same university in 1977 after graduation cum laude in Biology. Member of the Georgofili Academy and of the Società Italiana di Patologia Vegetale, American Phytopathological Society (APS), International Organization for Mycoplasmology (IOM), International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS), International Committee on Systematics of Prokaryotes (ICSP) Subcommittee on Taxonomy of Mollicutes, European Alien Species Information Network (EASIN). Invited speaker and chairperson at many national and international meetings and seminars, member of scientific committees of international meetings. Editor chief, senior editor and member of editorial board of several international plant pathology and microbiology focused journals. Emmy Klienenberger-Nobel award for distinguished research in mycoplasmology. Responsible of phytobacteriology laboratories her major research efforts were devoted to study plant diseases associated with phytoplasmas and bacteria applying biological approaches, electron microscopy and molecular tools to identify the microorganisms and to study their biology, epidemiology and management. Research devoted to detection and epidemiology of phytoplasma-associated, bacteria and virus plant diseases. Author of about 400 peer reviewed publications and 60 books or book chapters and numerous divulgative papers. Chair of COST action FA0807 "Integrated management of phytoplasma epidemics in different crop systems". Founder and president of the International Phytoplasmologist Working Group (IPWG: http://www.ipwgnet.org/) having collaborations mainly about phytoplasma associated diseases with colleagues from about 40 Countries worldwide. Partner in five EU founded projects and coordinator of the H2020 TROPICSAFE (http://www.tropicsafe.eu/) project and of the EUPHRESCO network PhyFor.
Prof. Dr. Hikmet Budak
Arizona Western College, United States;
Hikmet Budak, a Ph.D. holder from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, holds a major in Plant Breeding and Genetics and a minor in Statistics. Currently, he serves as a Director and Professor at the Arizona Western College in Yuma, Arizona. Prior to this, he held the position of Chief Science Officer at Montana BioAg. Inc. in the United States. Additionally, he has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Over the past 25 years, Budak has accumulated extensive experience in academia and industry worldwide, working across various disciplines. His primary focus throughout his career has been on developing, understanding, and applying MultiOmics and CRISPR editing tools for crop breeding and genetics.
Sponsors and Partners
Organizer
Join us for an insightful session where cutting-edge scientific advances meet practical solutions, offering valuable perspectives for researchers, policymakers, and professionals engaged in sustainable agriculture and plant protection.
Date: 12 May 2025
Time: 12:00 pm CEST | 6:00 pm CST (Asia)
Webinar ID: 854 3615 0665
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
The webinar was hosted via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.
Biosecurity and Plant Viruses: A Call to Action for a Sustainable Future
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Yi Xu and Dr. Patricia Valle Pinheiro
Deadline for submission: 31 July 2025
Molecular Mechanisms of Plant Resistance to Nematodes and Fungi
Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Khalid Meksem and Dr. Naoufal Lakhssassi
Deadline for submission: 31 July 2025
Molecular Basis of Seed Germination and Dormancy
Guest Editor: Dr. Yifeng Wang, Prof. Dr. Jiezheng Ying, Dr. Xiaohong Tong, and Dr. Yu Cheng
Deadline for submission: 31 August 2025
Early Detection of Diseases in Crops for Efficient Application of Pesticides
Guest Editor: Dr. Ioannis Vagelas
Deadline for submission: 30 September 2025
New Strategies for the Control of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes
Guest Editor: Dr. Ioannis Giannakou
Deadline for submission: 20 October 2025
Diversity and Taxonomy of Scarabaeoidea
Guest Editor: Dr. Frank-Thorsten Krell
Deadline for submission: 31 October 2025
Innovative Insights and Challenges in Managing Fungal Diseases in Crops: Toward Sustainable Agricultural Practices
Guest Editor: Dr. Moussa El Jarroudi
Deadline for submission: 31 December 2025
The Silent Players of Forest Ecosystems: Viruses, Viroids, and Beyond
Guest Editor: Dr. Leticia Botella Sánchez
Deadline for submission: 31 December 2025
Plant–Insect Interactions—3rd Edition
Guest Editor: Dr. Francisco Rubén Badenes-Pérez
Deadline for submission: 31 December 2025