Invited Speakers
Prof. Dr. Manuella Zude, Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering (ATB), Germany. Manuela Zude has a background in chemistry (Technical University Berlin), but has since switched to the field of applied plant physiology, which she teaches at the Beuth University of Applied Sciences Berlin, Germany as a professor for fruit science. Her earlier studies aimed at characterizing the effects and interactions of reduced oxygen partial pressure to quantify plant metabolic responses (exchange of volatiles, water relations, and pyridine nucleotides in fruit trees) to abiotic stress.
Since 1999, her research focus is on assessing fruit compounds for determining the fruit maturity stage and nutritional value by means of spectroscopic approaches. Her studies target basic research as well as knowledge transfer for product monitoring in the supply chain processes. Prof. Dr. Manuela Zude is associate editor of the journal Food and Bioprocess Technology, board member of the journal Biosystems Engineering, CIGR section VI, vice chair of CIGR WG on image processing, national standardization committee for sensor solutions, and in the company CP (Falkensee, Germany).
Presentation Title: Advanced Techniques and Technology for Assessing Pre- and Postharvest Quality.
Dr. Jason Johnston, The New Zealand Institute of Plant and Food Research, Ltd. Auckland, New Zealand. Jason Johnston is a postharvest specialist in pipfruit at Plant and Food Research Ltd, New Zealand. His main research interests include ethylene responses and texture and physiological disorders. His research involves multidisciplinary teams, genetic resources with extreme postharvest phenotypes, and a mixture of applied and fundamental approaches. For disorders, he is interested in understanding the physiological and transcriptional mechanisms involved in disorder development, so that new prediction technologies can be applied to improve inventory management.
For texture, his principle aim is to develop new methods for measuring sensory responsive traits such as crispness and juiciness, based on an improved understanding of the biology of texture.
Presentation Title: Delivering Postharvest Protocols Faster: The Need for an Integrated Approach Between Physiology and "omics" Technologies.
Dr. Bruce Whitaker, Food Quality Lab, BARC-WEST, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD, USA.
Bruce Whitaker received his Ph.D. in Plant Physiology in 1979 from the MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab at Michigan State University. His early research, including postdoctoral work at the Smithsonian Radiation Biology Lab and the University of Wisconsin, Dept. of Biochemistry, focused on sensory transduction in microorganisms. In 1985 he was hired as a Research Plant Physiologist in the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Quality Lab (currently the Food Quality Lab), where he has conducted research on the postharvest physiology and biochemistry of fruits and vegetables for 25 years.
The main subjects of Bruce Whitaker’s postharvest research include changes in membrane lipid metabolism and composition associated with temperature stress, fruit ripening, and senescence; and the genetic and biochemical bases of superficial scald development in apples and pears. Recently, he has also pursued an interest in profiling potentially health beneficial phenolic compounds in solanaceous fruits. Dr. Whitaker was Chair of the Multistate Cooperative Research Project on Postharvest Biology of Fruits (NE1036) from 2006–2008, and currently serves on the editorial board of Postharvest Biology and Technology.
Presentation Title: Membrane Lipid Metabolism and Oxidative Stress Involved in Postharvest Ripening, Senescence, and Storage Disorders of Fruits.
Dr. Elizabeth Mitcham, Director Postharvest Technology Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USA. Beth Mitcham has a Ph.D. in Horticulture from the University of Maryland. Following two years with the USDA ARS as a Postdoctoral Associate, she joined the University of California at Davis in 1992 as a Postharvest Physiologist, first in the Department of Pomology and later in the Department of Plant Sciences. She currently serves as Director of the internationally recognized Postharvest Technology Center and as Associate Director of the Horticulture Collaborative Research Program (CRSP), a USDA funded program promoting horticulture in developing countries.
Dr. Mitcham leads an applied and fundamental research program focused on improving the quality of fruit for US consumers and the viability of the California produce industry. She works closely with the fruit industry in California to develop strategies for maintaining postharvest quality of fruit, especially apples, sweet cherries, pears, berries, pomegranates and nut crops. She is actively investigating the biochemical basis for calcium deficiency disorders in fruit, including bitter pit in apple and blossom end rot in tomato. Her research has improved commercial ripening of pear fruit and our understanding of the biological regulation of ripening in these fruit. She is also recognized for developing strategies to control insect pests in harvested fruit to open or maintain existing export markets, including work with sweet cherry, citrus and table grapes on various techniques including hot water, radio frequency heating, alternative fumigants, and surfactant treatments to control insect and mite pests. She has recently begun work on postharvest control strategies for light brown apple moth in California crops.
Dr. Mitcham also teaches courses in Postharvest Biology and Technology to university students and the agriculture industry. Dr. Mitcham has participated in various training programs internationally, including programs in Uruguay, Viet Nam, Thailand, Turkey, The Philippines, South Korea, Guatemala, and Egypt.
Presentation Title: Postharvest Handling Systems for Small-Scale Farmers Around the World.
Dr. Ines Hanrahan, Program Manager, Postharvest Physiologist, Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, WA, USA.
Presentation Title: The Washington Tree Fruit Industry.
Dr. Chris Watkins, Professor/Postharvest Science, Associated Director for Agriculture and Food Systems, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Professor Christopher Watkins conducts a postharvest science research program with a major focus on apple fruit. His research and extension activities include development and conduct of harvest maturity management, postharvest handling, and storage technology from both basic and applied aspects. Professor Watkins is also the Associate Director for Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE).
Professor Watkins' research program is focused on developing the knowledge required for use of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), a new ethylene-binding inhibitor that extends the storage life of apples. This work is now being extended to preharvest 1-MCP applications. He also conducts research on new cultivars of importance to New York growers, on the effects of postharvest techniques on the nutritional quality of fruit, and to better understand the underlying mechanisms in fruit responses to storage conditions such as temperature, atmosphere, and 1-MCP, and the interaction of these factors with the development of storage disorders. Current projects focus on the development of physiological disorders of apples such as internal browning, external carbon dioxide injury and superficial scald.
Presentation title: Managing ethylene for storage of horticultural products
Dr. Maarten L.A.T.M. Hertog, Postharvest Modeler, Research Leader, Computational Plant Biology, BIOSYST-MeBioS, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Heverlee, Belgium.
Dr. Maarten Hertog is a postharvest modeler, and research leader Computational Plant Biology with the MeBioS Group at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE). MeBios investigates the interaction between biological systems and physical processes. The emphasis is on the measurement of properties of biological products and process variables, the analysis of the measured signals by means of advanced statistical methods, process and equipment design, optimisation and control. Mathematical models to describe the working principles of biological systems at different spatial and temporal scales is essential for this purpose. MeBioS carries out applied research
Presentation title: Cutting edge technologies in postharvest research: journey to the centre of the fruit
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