Phone: +39 3923829019
E-mail: sofia.bertacca@unipa.it; sofia.bertacca@pec.it
Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0353-7642
Location: Department of Agricultural, Food, and Forest Sciences (SAAF), Viale delle Scienze, Building 5, Entrance C, Palermo, Italy

Profile
- Bachelor Degree in Agro-engineering at Università degli Studi di Palermo, 2018
- Master Degree in Agricultural Production and Technologies at Università degli Studi di Palermo, 2020

Expertise
- Detection and diagnosis of plant disease, in particular of plant viruses and virus-like organisms;
- Biological indexing, serological (DAS-ELISA, DTBIA, LF) and molecular (PCR, RT-PCR, RT-qPCR, LAMP) tests;
- Knowledge of ecology and epidemiology of plant viruses and virus-likes;
- Knowledge of biogeography and epidemiology of plant viruses;
- Virus Disease Management: prevention and fight.

Advisor: Prof. Salvatore Davino
Co-advisor: Prof. Annalisa Marchese

Thesis topics
Ecology of virus and virus-like diseases that affect olive trees in the Mediterranean Basin.

Research interests: My main interests are the identification and detection of plant pathogens (in particular, viruses and virus-like organisms), the study of their prevention and the control of their introduction and spread. I am also fascinated by the knowledge of the molecular mechanisms of disease (host-pathogen interaction), the study of its geographical origin and pathogen movements (biogeography and epidemiology), having as main objective to contain the economic and environmental impact of diseases through the adoption of environmentally sustainable strategies.

Link to publications http://hdl.handle.net/10447/471684; http://hdl.handle.net/10447/521573;