Dr Georgios Merkouropoulos is a researcher in the Department of Vine (Institute of Olive, Subtropical Plants and Vine / Hellenic Agricultural Organization DIMITRA) on Vine Breeding. He received his MSc (on Cellular and Molecular Plant Sciences) and his PhD (on Plant Molecular Biology) from the University of Wales, Bangor (United Kingdom), working on the developmental and stress-induced extens in gene expression in Brassica napus and Arabidopsis thaliana. His postdoctoral research activity was in the field of gene expression and regulation in response to abiotic stresses; later he enriched and expanded his expertise in the molecular mapping of biodiversity, focusing, over the last decade, on the diversity of the vine.