Paula R Oblessuc is a plant scientist, with Ph.D. degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology, area of Plant Breeding and Genetics, from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. She has 6 years of post-doc experience, studying genetics and molecular mechanisms of plant-pathogen interaction in the Department of Biology, University of Texas, Arlington (UTA, Texas, US), in the Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio, Sao Paulo, BR), and in the Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis (UCD, California, US). She is broadly trained in the area of plant-microbe interaction, with experience in integrating plant physiology, molecular biology, genetics, and genome-enabled approaches. During her career, Paula applied this knowledge to study plant defence mechanisms against pathogenic fungi and bacteria, as well as to understand microbial virulence and disease establishment. Her studies were published in 16 scientific papers. She has worked in 7 successful grant applications. Currently, she is the Director of the Department for the Protect of Specific Crops of the InnovPlantProtect Collaborative Laboratory, where she coordinates a group of Ph.D. and M.Sc. researches focused on finding innovative solutions to protect Mediterranean crops against pathogens and pests, based on state-of-the-art approaches in the area of biotechnology. Paula's main goal is to translate the outcomes of basic research into applied sciences, supporting high quality and ethical research, to develop innovative solutions to assist critical problems in food security and food safety, promoting the agriculture and the food industry.