Dr. Vladimir Orbovic


For the last 20 years I have been leading Citrus Transformation Lab at the Citrus Research and Education Center that belongs to University of Florida. The goal of the lab is to facilitate introduction of transgenic technology into mainstream citriculture. My major research interests therefore have to do with beneficial effects specific changes in plant genomes may have on crop’s productivity and development. Production of genetically modified citrus will help citrus growers and Citrus Industry through improvement of cultivars that are presently grown for commercial purposes by making them resistant to diseases and enhancing the traits preferred by consumers. Since I started the lab, I fine-tuned already existing methods for production of transgenic Citrus plants with the use of pathogenic bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens. More recently, I was a part of the team that introduced CRISPR technology in genetic modification of citrus. The first cis/intragenic citrus plants with the use of specially designed plasmids were also produced in my lab. In the study published this year, the team of scientists including myself, managed to create thornless citrus through manipulation of just two genes.

To view my lab’s website, visit this web address:
https://crec.ifas.ufl.edu/facilities/transformation-lab/orbovic/

To listen to the podcast on “The Use of Genetic Engineering in Fruit Breeding” visit this web address:
https://www.scipod.global/harnessing-genetics-for-sustainable-fruit-production-dr-vladimir-orbovic-university-of-florida/

To see the list of my publications and the citations they have received, visit Google Scholar’s web address:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3EkgV00AAAAJ&hl=en





Hours