Prof. Dr. Ana Elisa Rato (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5267-3723), holds a Ph.D. in Agronomy (2009) from the University of Évora, a Master's degree in Horticulture (1997) from the University of Lisbon. From 1992 to 1994, she worked as a field technician in a plant propagation enterprise. Since 1999, she has been an Assistant Professor in the Agricultural Sciences department at the University of Évora. As an integrated member of MED (Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment, and Development), she conducts research exploring new methodologies to evaluate the impact of cultural practices, such as nutrition and irrigation, on crop performance and fruit quality. A major focus of her research is understanding the influence of calcium on fruit postharvest behavior, particularly its role in ionic antagonism, its effects on cell walls, and its impact on postharvest disorders. Her research also extends to analytical chemistry, including the quantification of quality parameters in fruits, such as soluble solids content, acid evolution after harvest, and the measurement of ethylene and carbon dioxide production rates. Additionally, she investigates cell wall composition using chromatographic techniques. Recently, her research has focused on applying spectral techniques such as FT-NIR to analyze fruit quality parameters, including polyphenols, anthocyanins, and antioxidant activity. She has also explored the use of multivariate techniques applied to spectroscopy.
