Dr. Teresa Capell is a Principal Investigator within the Agricultural Biotechnology Group at the UdL, since 2004. She became a full professor in 2011. Dr Capell is also an associate researcher of the CERCA Center, AGROTECNIO. She has been the PI of 5 different national projects since 2004. She discovered and developed a novel approach to engineer complex multistep metabolic pathways in plants exemplified by the creation of a combinatorial transgenic maize population accumulating extraordinary levels of carotenoids including β-carotene in the endosperm. Dr Capell oversaw the development of this work as described in Zhu et al., PNAS (2008), (Capell corresponding author). The later discovery was exploited to develop multivitamin corn which constitutes the most complex transgenic crop plant reported to date in which three distinct vitamin pathways were engineered simultaneously in the same plant reported in Naqvi et al., PNAS 2009; Dr Capell was a senior co-author on the paper and a co-inventor on a corresponding patent. Importantly she spearheaded efforts, which culminated in four very successful transgenic field trials with multivitamin corn in Lleida (2012-2015). She has developed her own independent research line on molecular pharming for the production of recombinant pharmaceuticals in plants (see e.g. Ramessar et al., PNAS 2008 and Vamvaka et al., PNAS 2018). She has been instrumental in the success of the project Pandemies, awarded by the Generalitat of Catalunya to the group, focusing on dissemination, communication and scientific aspects of SARS-CoV-2 (https://ilercovid.com/). As part of her activities within the Pandemies project, she supervised a PhD student who developed an efficient transformation system for Bomba rice (described in Saba-Mayoral et al., Transgenic Res 31: 325-340). This work served as a basis for a second paper in the Plant Biotechnology J. which described the production and accumulation of the Recognition Binding Domain of the SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein in a stably transgenic plant. The major impact of this work is that the system is easily transferable to developing countries. T. Capell is the corresponding author on this paper as well. She was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi (2020) by the Generalitat of Catalunya, in recognition for her contributions to science and society.

Dr. Paul Christou received his BS Chemistry & PhD Plant Biochemistry, University College London. He was a Senior Scientist at Agracetus Inc., Madison, WI, USA, where he developed genetic transformation technology that lead his group to generate the first commercial crop sold by Monsanto (Roundup Ready Soybean). Subsequently he served as the Head of Molecular Biotechnology Unit, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK-led the Tropical Maize and Rice Biotechnology Laboratory sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. Later he Headed the Crop Genetics & Biotechnology program, Fraunhofer Institute Molecular Biotechnology & Applied Ecology, Aachen, Germany. Universitat de Lleida as an ICREA Professor & Head of the Applied Plant Biotechnology Laboratory. Founding Director Agrotecnio CERCA Center, 2013-2015. Recipient of ERC Advanced Grant BIOFORCE and ERC PoC Grant Multinutrient Maize. Received 2 Bill & Melinda Gate's grants. PI in 14 EU projects over past 25 years 2 as coordinator and 2 as deputy coordinator. Recipient of Narcís Monturioll Medal 2020.

Dr. Lorenzo Rossi joined Texas A&M University in January 2025 as an Assistant Professor of Horticultural Plant Physiology, with 60% research, 30% teaching, and 10% service appointment. Before joining Texas A&M, he served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor at a University of Florida off-campus research center, where he began in 2018 and earned tenure in 2024. Motivated by a desire to work more closely with undergraduate students and collaborate across disciplines in a main campus environment, Dr. Rossi made the intentional decision to transition to Texas A&M and continue building innovative programs in horticultural sciences. Dr. Rossi’s research explores how crops respond to environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, heat, and pollutants, integrating soil and root health to identify mechanisms of tolerance. His work focuses on fruit tree crops, especially citrus, peaches, pecans, olives, and grapes, and recently on selected vegetables. At Texas A&M, Dr. Rossi teaches HORT 201 Horticultural Science and Practices and HORT 202 Horticultural Science and Practices Laboratory, which together enroll nearly 900 students per year, as well as HORT 618 Root and Rhizosphere Biology for graduate students. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, mentored numerous students, secured nearly $5 million in research funding, and received multiple national awards recognizing excellence in teaching, leadership, and research.

Website: https://hortphys.tamu.edu/

Program description:
Our program studies how plants interact with the environment and how these interactions influence yield, stress tolerance, and fruit quality across Texas’ unique growing regions.

We focus on key physiological topics such as:
Rootstock-scion interactions
Plant water use and efficiency
Carbohydrate storage and translocation
Plant responses to abiotic stress, including drought, heat, environmental pollutants, and poor soil conditions

While fruit tree crops are a major focus, we also work with various small fruits and vegetables that are important to growers in Texas. Our goal is to bridge fundamental plant physiology with applied solutions, working closely with growers, Extension professionals, and industry stakeholders to ensure our research leads to practical outcomes. Through this work, we aim to support the success of Texas fruit growers, contribute to sustainable production systems, and train the next generation of scientists. We are always open to collaborations with researchers across disciplines and institutions who share our commitment to advancing fruit crop science.

Dr. Ahmed Darwish is an Assistant Professor of plant secondary metabolism at the Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University. He also serves as a member of the TAMU Faculty Advisory Council (FAC). He received his Ph.D. degree in Biochemistry from Hiroshima University, Japan, in 2015. He has excellent experience in isolating, characterizing, and testing phytochemicals from natural sources like plants, fungi, bacteria, insects, and other organisms using different techniques, such as HPLC, GC-MS, LC-MS/MS, and NMR.
Furthermore, he has excellent experience in determining the potential health effects of different types of compounds, such as anticancer, antioxidant, antidiabetic, etc. He also generated an accessible database of metabolomic profiles related to numerous traits using several southern grape populations, blueberries, blackberries, and Kiwi. His program aims to contribute to global health by providing resilient crops that not only support sustainable agriculture but also offer significant health benefits to humans. He has been teaching and instructing many courses (up to 10 years) related to plant Biochemistry and secondary metabolism, developing new course materials for undergraduate and graduate students, and participating in different faculty committees. He has effectively collaborated as a Co-PI with different national/international universities and federal institutions to secure more than $1.5 million in research funding. Dr. Darwish has published more than 45 peer-reviewed publications in high-ranked scientific journals and served as a reviewer in several international journals.