Dr. Michelina Ruocco

Michelina Ruocco is a professor at the Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, the National Research Council of Italy, Portici, Italy. She is currently the research director and leader of the Biocontrol of Plant Pathogens group. She completed her Ph.D. studies in Plant Pathology in 1999 and MSc studies in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Naples “Federico II” in 1995. Since 2001, she has been a research scientist at the Institute for Plant Protection (CNR-IPP). In 2003, she was a guest researcher at the University of Wageningen Institute of Phytopathology (the Netherlands). She has consolidated experience in developing strategic approaches in the control and management of plant disease and in analyzing plant–microbe interactions with the main goal of building up innovative approaches for sustainable crop protection. She has been a referee for international journals dealing with crop protection, molecular biology and biotechnology issues. She is supervisor of an ENDURE INCO country grant. Her activities focus on the study of the molecular biology of the interactions between Trichoderma, phytopathogenic fungi and plants and on developing strategic approaches for the control and management of plant diseases.