Rate My Professor Dario Cantu

Dario Cantù, Ph.D., is Professor of Systems Biology and the Ray Rossi Endowed Chair in Viticulture in the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the University of California, Davis. He previously held the Louis P. Martini Endowed Chair in Viticulture from 2017 to 2024 and serves as Executive Director of the UC Davis Chile Life Sciences Innovation Center as well as Graduate Program Chair for the Viticulture and Enology Graduate Group. Born and raised in Milan, Italy, Cantù earned his BSc and MSc in Agricultural Sciences and Technologies from the University of Milan in 2004 and his PhD in Plant Biology from UC Davis in 2009. He joined the Department of Viticulture and Enology faculty in 2013.

The Cantù Lab integrates principles of systems biology, quantitative genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics to dissect the genetic bases of traits important for grape breeding and sustainable production under changing climates. Research specializations include genetic mechanisms of resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases, wood diseases, susceptibility to wildfire smoke, sex determination, wine aroma production, and plant-microbe interactions. Key achievements encompass the chromosome-scale phased diploid genome assembly of Cabernet Sauvignon (Nature Methods, 2016), pangenome analyses of North American wild grapes (Genome Biology, 2023), high-quality rootstock genomes such as 110R and Kober 5BB (Scientific Data, 2022), and the development of tools like HaploSync for haplotype-phased assemblies. Cantù edited The Grape Genome (Springer, 2019) and leads initiatives including VitisGen3 and the Carménère genome project. With over 11,000 citations, his contributions have profoundly impacted grapevine genomics, evolution studies, and global viticulture research.