Luciana Baldoni

Dr. Baldoni is the Research Director at the National Research Council, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources, Perugia, Italy. The main focus of her research includes the biology, genetics, genomics and breeding of the olive (Olea europaea L.), with current activities carried out on genotyping of olive cultivars and wild olive populations and analysis of their genetic relationships, domestication and origin; functional characterization of genes and regulatory elements involved in important metabolic pathways, including oil accumulation, phenol and terpene synthesis, flowering and tree architecture; genome and transcriptome sequencing; evaluation of a plant's response to environmental stresses (drought, salt); analysis of self- and inter-incompatibility systems; development of SNPs, polynucleotide SSRs, plastidial and mitochondrial markers; management of olive cultivar collections and inter-varietal cross progenies.