Maria J. Pozo is biologist and a scientific researcher at the Department of Soil Microbiology and Symbiotic Systems, Estación Experimental del Zaidín from the CSIC, the Spanish National Research Council, in Granada, Spain. Maria obtained her PhD in Biology at Granada University. She studied how the beneficial arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi stimulate plant defenses enhancing plant resistance against soil borne pathogens. Then she was a Postdoc at Prof. Kenerley´s lab in Texas A&M University, studying functional genomics of the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma virens. Later she was a Marie Curie Postdoctoral fellow at Porf. Pieterse´s lab at Utrecht University (The Netherlands), studying the signaling pathways regulating defense priming and induced resistance by beneficial soil bacteria in Arabidopsis. Her research contributed to clarify the role of plant oxylipins in defense priming and induced resistance. Currently she is head of the mycorrhiza and biotic stress lab in the department of Soil Microbiology and Symbiotic Systems, Estación Experimental del Zaidin, CSIC, in Granada, Spain. She is involved in several national and international projects aiming to understand the potential of beneficial microbiota to stimulate plant immunity and to improve its biotechnological applications for crop protection.

Maria is interested on how plant associated microorganisms can boost plant immunity inducing systemic resistance against pathogens and pests. She is particularly interested in the molecular mechanisms regulating plant defenses by the symbiosis, their impact in multitrophic interactions, and the context dependency of the symbiosis impact on plant health. Her research explore the role of damage perception and DAMPs in such effects. Please see their webpage for more information: www.eez.csic.es/mycorrhizaandbioticstresslab