Bárbara Blanco-Ulate arrived from Costa Rica in February of 2008, to work as an undergraduate student researcher in our lab. She earned her B.Sc. degree in Biotechnology Engineering from the Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica. Currently, she is a PhD. candidate in the Plant Biology Graduate Group. Her research focuses in the responses of tomato non-ripening mutants to the fungal pathogen, Botrytis cinerea. Bárbara has made exciting discoveries on how susceptibility to Botrytis is regulated during fruit ripening.