Peach & Nectarine

George Manganaris is Director of the CUT Fruit Sciences & Postharvest Group (www.fruitsciences.eu) at Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). He was awarded his PhD degree in 2004 from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and thereafter he worked as Research Associate at the University of California, Davis and at the University of Padova after receiving a Marie Curie Individual Intra European fellowship From 2009, he is Academic Staff at the Department of Agricultural Sciences, Biotechnology & Food Science at Cyprus University of Technology, initially as Lecturer (2009-2013), then as Assistant Professor (2014-2018) and from March 2019 onwards as Associate Professor. His main scientific interests include the quality evaluation of fresh fruits with the employment of physiological, biochemical and molecular approaches, the elucidation of fruit ripening syndrome with emphasis in the development of physiological disorders and overall, the postharvest maintenance of fresh produce. Additionally, he is involved in projects and/or synergies dealing with the application of preharvest treatments and/or novel technologies for maintaining quality of horticultural crops and their responsiveness to abiotic conditions. To date, Dr. Manganaris is the author of 52 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals (2100 citations, h-index=23). He is Council Member of the International Society for Horticultural Science and is board member of European Fruit Research Institute Network, he has been appointed by the Hellenic Quality Assurance Agency of Higher Education to participate in the External Evaluation and Certification process of six Departments in Greece and the Editor of the Proceedings of the V International Postharvest Unlimited Symposium, (Acta Horticulturae 1079) and the III International Horticulture in Europe Symposium (Acta Horticulturae 1242). Dr. Manganaris is Associate Editor/Editorial board member in the Postharvest Biology and Technology, Scientia Horticulturae, BMC Plant Biology, Journal of Horticultural Science & Biotechnology.

Guglielmo Costa served in the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Bologna from 1969 to 1985 as Assistant and Associate Professor in Fruit Science. In 1986 became Full Professor of Fruit Science, and move to the University of Udine, where served as Head of Produzioni vegetali Dept and Director of Experimental Agricultural Farm until 1997. After he transferred back to the University of Bologna and served as Fruit Trees and Woody Plant Science Dept for two terms until 2015. Professor Costa began his career with investigations on agronomic, genetic and chemical methods to control vegetative growth in the main temperate fruit species. He was particularly interested in the use of plant growth regulators (growth retardants, thinning agents, fruit set promoters, ethylene inhibitors affecting maturation and ripening of fruit). It is this use of plant growth regulators in fruit crop management that is probably the area of research for which he is best known in Italy as well as overseas. Other two Professor Costa major interests are i) the kiwifruit research carried out since the introduction of the specie in Italy and ii) the non-destructive assessment and prediction of fruit quality, particularly by use of near infrared spectroscopy and E-nose. The result of the research in this field was the development of devices, such as the DA-meter, patented by the University of Bologna and now widely used in the industry. Professor Costa output of scientific papers: more than 90 in peer-reviewed international journals, several hundred technical publications and a large number of conference presentations and related proceedings including about 90 papers in at least 40 different volumes of Acta Horticulturae. Professor Costa was also active in promoting international cooperation in education; the most outstanding example of this involvement is the International Master Course in Horticultural Science (IMaHS), an Erasmus Mundus project funded by the European Union. Professor Costa is a member of several national and International society. As far ISHS Professor Costa is affiliate since 1973, served as Chair of the Plant Bioregulators and of "Kiwifruit and its culture" (attended all the ISHS Symposia on Kiwifruit) and as a Chair of the Pome and Stone Fruit Section". He is actually the vice-chair of the Division Vine and Berry Fruit (DVIN). He was the Convener of the XI Plant Bioregulators Symposium (2009, Bologna), of the VII Kiwifruit Symposium (2010, Faenza), ) and the ISHS Non-destructive Assessment of Fruit Attributes Symposium at the 29th IHC in Brisbane. He has long been involved with the EUFRIN (European Fruit Research Institutes Network) Working Group on Fruit Thinning and has led the group since 1994 and has been the Chair of the ISHS WG twice. Here reported the most important awards Professor Costa received i) Hort+Research, New Zealand Honorary Fellowship, ii) Dedication of a volume of Horticultural Reviews in recognition of the contributions to horticulture and horticultural research both in Italy and throughout the world and iii) ISHS Fellow Award in recognition of outstanding contribution to horticultural science worldwide received at the IHC, Istanbul, 2018.

Carlos H. Crisosto is Director of the Fruit and Nut Research and Information Center, UC Davis. The focus of his research and extension program is the postharvest biology and technology of fruits, especially peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots, table grapes, figs, kiwifruits, olives, and persimmons, as well as pistachios, almonds and walnuts. The goal of his research program is to develop a better understanding of the orchard factors and postharvest factors that control fruit flavor and shelf life and to develop technology to overcome fruit industry problems. He applies genomic techniques to identify gene(s) responsible for fruit sensory attributes (both desirable and undesirable), and investigating physiological disorders such as chilling injury.