Pasquale Saldarelli devoted his research interests to the study of viral diseases of Mediterranean crops, mainly grapevine, and the investigation of plant virus interactions at molecular level. Results of these studies contributed to the description of new viruses, the development of advanced tools for their detection and the devise of strategies to protect plants from virus infections. Recent research approaches involve the use of next-generation sequencing for virus discovery, metagenome studies, for the dissection of the plant antiviral RNA silencing response in woody plants. He contributed to the description of the draft genome sequence of Xylella fastidiosa CoDiRO. He published 56 ISI-reported publications, collaborated in several EU funded project and coordinate a national R&D project. He is a member of the Committee of the International Council for the Study of Virus and Virus-like Diseases of the Grapevine (ICVG) and of the Italian Society of Phytopathology (SIPaV). Curriculum Vitae of Pasquale Saldarelli Dr Saldarelli graduated in Biological Science in 1987. He is senior researcher of the Italian National Research Council. Dr. Saldarelli’s research interests are grapevine virus diseases associated to leafroll, rugose wood and infectious degenerations. His studies led to the genome characterization and knowledge of expression strategies of several new viruses infecting grapevine and Mediterranean fruit crops. Recent research approaches involve the use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) for virus discovery, metagenome studies and for the dissection of the plant antiviral RNA silencing response in woody plants. He recently devoted major research efforts to the study of the outbreak of Xylella fastidiosa affecting olive trees in Salento (Apulia, Italy). He is responsible of a Workpackages in the frame of the H2020 EU Project POnTE (Pest Organism Threatening Europe; www.ponteproject.eu), whose main activities deal with the study of the Xylella interactions with the olive host and with investigations on the possibility to implement strategies for containment of Xylella fastidiosa spread. Recent publications regarding this researches led to the sequencing of the complete genome of the CoDiRO isolate of Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca detected in olive (http://genomea.asm.org/content/3/1/e01538-14.full?sid=90cadd06-c047-4db9-b223-ad9d41cd73dc) and a further isolate intercepted in the North of Italy (http://genomea.asm.org/content/3/6/e01472-15.full?sid=dd61e77e-32ce-49fd-bc2f-5f107d4b4376) and the description of the transcriptome profiles of a tolerant and susceptible olive cultivars (http://bmcgenomics.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12864-016-2833-9). He is also sub-coordinator of a Workpackage in the H2020 EU Project XF-ACTORS (Xylella Fastidiosa Active Containment Through a multidisciplinary-Oriented Research Strategy), recently funded. He spent several research periods in referenced international centers: • Station de Pathologie Vegetale of the INRA, Colmar, France • Institute de Biologie Moleculaire des Plantes, Strasbourg, France; • Foundation Plant Material Service, University of California, Davis, USA; • Scottish Crop Research Institute, Dundee, Scotland; • Laboratory for Monoclonal Antibody of the University of Wageningen, Nederland; • Rheinisch-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule, Aachen, Germany. He teached in university courses for graduate students and was a tutor in Master and PhD Courses in Plant Protections of the University of Bari, Italy. He was appointed as expert in different transnational project involving China, Malta and Palestina. He is a member of the : • Flexiviridae Sub Committee of the International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) • Steering Committee of the International Council for the Study of Virus and Virus Diseases of the Grapevine (ICVG)