Prof. Barbara Blanco-Ulate is an Associate Professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California, Davis, USA. She holds a B.Sc. in Biotechnology Engineering from the Costa Rica Institute of Technology in 2008 and a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of California, Davis in 2014. Prof. Blanco-Ulate’s research interests include the control of fruit ripening, improvement of fruit quality, and fruit-pathogen interactions. Her research program integrates systems biology approaches with biochemical and physiological analyses to study fruit development and quality traits, and to establish a novel framework for the early detection and efficient management of fruit diseases.