Prof. Dr. Azucena González Coloma

Ana Azucena González-Coloma, PhD is a Senior Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences (ICA-CSIC) in Spain, where she leads the research group Biopesticides: Biotechnology and Chemistry of Natural Products. Her work centers on the discovery, optimization, and biotechnological production of botanical and fungal biopesticides, integrating chemical ecology, natural product chemistry, applied phytochemistry, and microbial biotechnology. She is internationally recognized for advancing sustainable pest-management solutions based on natural metabolites from endemic plants, agricultural residues, and endophytic fungi.

Dr. González-Coloma earned her PhD in Biological Sciences at the Complutense University of Madrid and subsequently held postdoctoral positions at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Hokkaido Agricultural Experiment Station (Japan) before joining CSIC. She has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, 14 book chapters, and holds 11 patents, five of them licensed, along with a licensed plant variety. She has supervised 15 PhD students, 27 Master's theses, and led major research initiatives including national and international projects, LIFE environmental projects, and industry collaborations.

Her group's research spans bioprospection of plant and fungal biodiversity, metabolite identification and structure–activity studies, optimization of microbial fermentation and co-culture systems, metagenomic exploration of endophyte communities, and the development of biopesticide prototypes for insecticidal, antifungal, and nematicidal applications. She is actively involved in scientific dissemination, serves as Treasurer of the Specialized Group on Natural Products of the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry (RSEQ), and frequently participates in international conferences as an invited or plenary speaker, organizer, and scientific committee member.

ORCID: 0000-0001-5124-664X. Research Areas: Biopesticides, natural products chemistry, fungal endophytes, chemical ecology, sustainable crop protection.