Julia Halasz

Júlia Halász is a university professor at the Department of Plant Biotechnology, Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology. Her research focuses on the genetic control, evolutionary history, and genome-shaping effects of the gametophytic self-incompatibility system in the Rosaceae fruit tree species. Her expertise lies in S-genotyping analysis of cultivars and promising genetic resources. Prof. Júlia Halász’s work contributes to questions of how self-compatibility influenced the genetic variability of stone fruit species. Her theoretical work examines how mutations in the S-locus induced self-compatibility and how such genetic alterations resulted in a long-term effect on the popularity of selected genotypes in cultivation, as well as in the evolution of the species during domestication. Her empirical work has assessed these theories in the characterization of genetic variability using the S-locus and SSR marker systems for stone fruit species of diploids (apricot and almond) and polyploid species (sour cherry, European plum, and cherry laurel). Across her research, she uses traditional and up-to-date techniques of genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics. Prof. Júlia Halász pioneered the development of a series of molecular markers to detect self-(in)compatibility and other economically important traits in a range of Prunus fruit tree species. She designed and applied DNA-based, cost-effective, and easy-to-use, codominant markers that can reliably detect the self- and cross-(in)compatibility phenotype of a seedling early in the long juvenile phase. Her findings are instrumental in assisting worldwide apricot and other stone fruit breeding programs. She made significant contributions to optimizing the time and cost-effectiveness of the breeding process of such species. She authored and co-authored 22 research articles in high-impact scientific journals (9 and 13 of those were published in D1 and Q1 journals). Prof. Júlia Halász has collaborated with five research groups from countries including Turkey, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, and the USA, and she has successfully applied for 13 research grants nationally and internationally. She won the prestigious Junior Prima Prize in Science (2008), Bolyai Plaquette (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2014), and Women in Science Excellence Award (UNESCO and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 2018). She is a member of the editorial board of the journal Horticulturae and is an associate editor of the International Journal of Horticultural Science and a former associate editor of the Turkish Journal of Biology, International Journal of Plant Reproductive Biology, and also served as editor for Acta Horticulturae (ISHS).