Professor Simon Krattinger is an Associate Professor of Plant Science and Chair of the Plant Science Program at KAUST. He earned his Ph.D. cum laude from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, in 2009 and has been recognized with prestigious awards, including a Marie Curie Fellowship and an Ambizione Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation. His research integrates cutting-edge approaches in genomics, molecular genetics, bioinformatics, and phenomics to explore wheat evolution and mechanisms of resistance to biotic stresses. 

Professor Krattinger's research centers on cereal genomics and plant–pathogen interactions, with a focus on understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying stress adaptation in cereals. His team develops innovative genomic approaches to investigate how cereal crops — particularly wheat — perceive, signal, and respond to fungal pathogens. A key goal of Professor Krattinger's research is to translate fundamental discoveries into practical breeding strategies, ultimately enabling the development of highly resistant and climate-resilient cereal crop cultivars.