Dr. Panagiotis Kalaitzis
XPERT BIO
Living Lab 1 expert
After earning a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Maryland – College Park, USA and working at the US Department of Agriculture, Panagiotis Kalaitzis founded the Department of Horticultural Genetics and Biotechnology at the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (CIHEAM – MAICh) in 1998. Continuing as the department’s Director of Research and Studies since then, Dr. Kalaitzis has participated in numerous European and nationally funded scientific projects, coordinating several of them and overseeing MAICh’s work with LIVINGAGRO. He is also the director of the Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory at MAICh, where his research includes DNA-based olive oil authentication to certify olive variety, and the characterization of olive genetic resources to determine the varieties that are most resilient in the face of climate change.
