Mª Teresa Sánchez Ballesta

Dr. Mª Teresa Sánchez Ballesta obtained her BSc in Pharmacy from the Complutense University of Madrid (1992). She did her PhD in the IATA-CSIC and IBMCP-CSIC / UPV (Valencia) (1998) on the biochemical and molecular bases related to the susceptibility of citrus fruit to develop chilling injury during storage at low temperature. She joined the “Genomics and Biotechnology of the Fruits” laboratory of ENSAT / INP / INRA in Toulouse (France) (2000-2002) as a postdoctoral researcher, focusing her work on the transcriptional regulation associated with the ripening of climacteric fruit such as tomatoes and in particular in the functional characterization of the transcription factors ERF. Later, she joined the “Biotechnology and Postharvest Quality” group at the ICTAN as a postdoctoral researcher, where she is Tenured Scientist since 2008. Moreover, since 2018 she is Associate Professor at the Department of Plant Physiology of the Biological Faculty (UCM).

Her research lines at ICTAN focus on the study of the biochemical and molecular mechanisms related to the susceptibility of fruit (table grapes and red fruits) to low temperature that affect their quality and how the application of treatments with high levels of CO2 improve the quality modulating these responses. To this end, she performs different approaches and methodologies including biochemical studies and biotechnological and functional genomics approaches. Within these lines, in recent years her work has focused on the study of genes from the phenylpropanoid pathway and on the in vitro functional characterization of different defense proteins and transcription factors. As a result of this work derived, international collaborations have been established to address the role of these genes in the ripening of myrtle fruit and in the response of Medicago truncatula to drought stress.