Lina Castano-Duque earned her PhD in plant biology from Pennsylvania State University where she studied plant–insect interactions under Dr Dawn Luthe’s mentorship. She conducted a post-doctoral research experience as a National Science Foundation fellow at Duke University, studying rice and flooding with Dr Thomas Mitchell-Olds in collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). In 2021, she became a permanent scientist with USDA-ARS in New Orleans in the Food and Feed Safety research unit studying plant–fungal interactions and mycotoxin accumulation in corn.