Richard Earle Litz

Title - Professor

Department - Horticultural Sciences

Specialty - Biotechnology of Tropical Fruits

Telephone - 305-246-7001 Ext. 310

Suncom - 478-7001 Ext. 310

Web site - http://cta.ufl.edu | http://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/litzlab

Education

Professor (1988 to present), TREC - IFAS/University of Florida, Homestead, FL
Associate Professor (1984 to 1988), TREC - IFAS/University of Florida, Homestead, FL
Assistant Professor (1981 to 1988), TREC - IFAS/University of Florida, Homestead, FL

Genetic engineering of avocado to develop a new generation of rootstocks
Recovery of mango and avocado plants following mutation induction of embryogenic cultures
Cryopreservation of embryogenic cultures of tropical fruits
Rescue of endangered cycads by cell and tissue culture

University of Florida Research Foundation Professor (2001-2004)
Associate Editor, American Society for Horticultural Science (1986-1989)
Program Committee, II ISHS Symposium on In Vitro Culture and Horticultural Breeding, Baltimore MD, July 28-July 2, 1992
Advisory Panel Member, Indian Journal of Natural Rubber Research (1993-present)
Associate Editor, Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (1995-1998)
International Advisory Board, III ISHS Symposium on In Vitro Culture and Horticultural Breeding, Jerusalem, ISRAEL, June 16-21, 1996
Managing Editorial Board, Plant Cell Tissue & Organ Culture (1998-present)
Editorial Board, Annual Reviews on Plant Biotechnology (1999-present)
Convenor, III International Symposium on Biotechnology of Tropical Species, October, 2005.
Invited Speaker: 63 National and International Conferences/Symposia
Invited Lecturer: postgraduate courses in Tropical Fruit Biotechnology at 12 universities in 9 countries

Litz, R. E. ed. (1998) The Mango Botany Production and Uses, CABI, Wallingford, 587p (book)
Chavez, V. M., R. E. Litz, M. Monroy, P. A. Moon & A. Vovides (1998) Regeneration of Ceratozamia euryphyllidia (Cycadales, Gymnospermae) plants from embryogenic leaf cultures derived from mature phase trees. Plant Cell Rep. 17: 612-616. (refereed)
Litz, R. E. & M. A. Gomez-Lim (2002) Genetic transformation of mango. In Transgenic Plants and Crops, ed. by G. Khachatourians, A. McHughern, R. Scorza, W. K. Nip & Y. H. Hui. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 421-436. (book chapter)
Litz, R. E. (2003) Genetics of crop improvement: clonal propagation - fruit and ornamental trees. In: Encyclopedia of Applied Plant Sciences, ed. by B. Thomas, D. Murphy & B. Murray. Elsevier, Oxford, pp. 1408-1417. (book chapter)
Witjaksono and R. E. Litz (2004) Effect of gamma irradiation on embryogenic avocado cultures and somatic embryo development. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult. in press (refereed)
Litz, R. E. ed. (2004.) Biotechnology of Perennial Fruit and Nut Crops. CABI, Wallingford, in press (book)