Vanilla

Editors

Eric Odoux graduated in biochemistry and has had a career with CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for Inter national Development) since 1988. He successively worked on coffee, cocoa, aromatic plants, and tropical fruits processing in Cameroon (and other countries in West Africa) and in France before he developed a research project on vanilla curing in Reunion Island and Madagascar in 1996. His research has mainly focused on vanilla aroma development related to curing practices. He received his PhD in food sciences from University of Montpellier II (France) in 2004.

His work led to research in partnership with industry, to consultancy reports, and to scientific articles.

Michel Grisoni graduated in agronomy and holds a PhD in plant pathology from Montpellier SupAgro, France. He has pursued a career as agro-virologist for CIRAD since 1984 in Colombia, French Polynesia, and Reunion Island. His research on vanilla has focused primarily on virus diseases and then moved towards the characterization, preservation, and development of genetic resources, particularly to improve the resistance of vanilla plants to diseases.

He is presently in charge of the Vanilla Genetics and Certification Research Program of CIRAD and curator of the vanilla collection at the Center for Biological Resources (Vatel) on Reunion Island. He is the author or coauthor of many scientific articles, consultancy reports, and conference communications related to vanilla.