Hernan Villar-Luna has been a Research Associate at the CIIDIR/IPN since 2023. He is a scientific researcher with a professional background in the field of plant breeding, plant pathology, and growing vegetables in the greenhouse. He received a Licentiate degree in Biology/Agroecology from Tecnológico Nacional de México Campus Cuenca del Papaloapan and obtained an MS degree in Plant Pathology and a Ph.D. in Plant Genetics from Colegio de Postgraduados. He served as a Research Assistant at the Colegio de Postgraduados from 2021 to 2022. He worked as a Research and Development Scientist at the Red Sun Farms from 2022 to 2023. He is involved in a research project with his plant biotechnology team that focuses on the breeding of the genetic resistance of the Mexican Lime to Huanglongbing disease (Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus), through the identification of susceptibility genes (Genes S) by RNA-seq for the design of CRISPR/Cas tools.

Maria Elena Santos-Cervantes is a Full Professor at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Comprehensive Regional Development of the National Polytechnic Institute, Sinaloa Unit, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology. She obtained her doctorate in agriculture from the Faculty of Chemical Biology, Autonomous University of Sinaloa. Her research interests include the pathogen–plant interaction. Currently, her projects are being developed with the Colletotrichum-Papaya, Fusarium-Papa, and Pectobacterium-Papa pathosystems.

Edgar A. Rodríguez-Negrete is currently a member of the National System of Level I Researchers. Edgar A. Rodríguez Negrete graduated in Chemistry and pharmaceutical Biology from the University of Guanajuato and received a Master of Science (Experimental Biology) degree from the Research Institute in Experimental Biology (IIBE) of the University of Guanajuato. He is a Doctor of Science (Plant Biotechnology) from the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the National Polytechnic Institute (CINVESTAV-IPN) Unit, Postdoctoral degree from the Institute of Mediterranean Subtropical Horticulture (IHSM)-University of Malaga, Spain. Edgar A. Rodríguez Negrete’s research interests include the study of RNA-mediated Gene Silencing (Gene Silencing) as a defense mechanism against phytopathogenic viruses, the study of epigenetic modifications induced during plant–virus interaction, development of viral gene-silencing vectors, development of tools for isolation and generation of infective clones of phytopathogenic viruses, virus–plant interaction study.

Jesús Méndez-Lozano is a Research Professor in Agricultural Biotechnology at the National Polytechnic Institute. He received a Bachelor's degree in Biologist from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, a Doctorate in Plant Biotechnology from CINVESTAV-IPN Unidad Irapuato/ILTAB-The Scripps Research Institute, and a postdoctoral from The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, E.U. International Laboratory for Tropical Agriculture. His research interests include plant molecular virology, specifically the identification and molecular characterization of plant viruses, virus–plant interaction, viruses as biotechnological tools, and RNA interference (RNAi) technology.

Norma Elena Leyva-Lopez is Full Professor at the Departamento de Biotecnología Agrícola, Instituto Politécnico Nacional. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemical Engineering from the Faculty of Chemical-Biological Sciences, Autonomous University of Sinaloa, and a Master of Science in Plant Biotechnology from CINVESTAV-Unidad Irapuato. She obtained a Ph.D. in biotechnology from Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados Unidad Irapuato. Her research interests include understanding virulence strategies of phloem-limited bacteria (Candidatus Liberibacter and Candidatus Phytoplasma) and aiming to understand the plant–pathogen interaction process in the search for management strategies for these diseases.