Luis joined the Viticulture and Enology Department in Fall 2022 and currently leads the grapevine breeding program at UC Davis. His lab at UC Davis integrates multidisciplinary and high-scalable approaches for guiding grapevine breeding efforts and preventing future difficulties in growing high-quality grapes in the light of climate change. Research and breeding in Luis’ group are based on the needs and priorities of growers, industry, nurseries, food processors, and consumers. His lab heavily relies on industry collaborations and on building relationships with growers to better assess current and future challenges, priorities, and areas of opportunity for grapevine breeding. In the VitisGen3 project, Luis will be developing populations for fine-mapping powdery mildew, and deploying high-throughput phenotyping and genotyping methods to identify resistant germplasm.
