Dr Karen Massel

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Centre for Crop Science

k.massel@uq.edu.au

Karen’s research is focused on the improvement of cereal crops using genomic and biotechnological tools, enhancing their qualities and performance for the food and feed industries. Her work utilises the targeted and precise manipulation of genes and their networks in hopes of further understanding these complex systems and concurrently expediting genetic gains for seamless integration into breeding programs. As a post-doctoral researcher, she is currently modulating the branching patterns in a variety of cereal crops to understand and improve their drought tolerance strategies, with dreams of advancing these initiatives to be able to tweak the design of crops to be tailored for specific environments. Karen is a strong advocate for the benefits of biotechnology and GM plants for sustainable food uses.

Researcher biography

Dr. Karen Massel is a biotechnologist with expertise utilising CRISPR/Cas9 genomic editing in cereal crops, focused on improving grain quality and abiotic stress tolerance. Current projects involve dissemenating the genetic networks that underpin drought adaptation in sorghum and barley.

Publications

Book Chapter (1)

Journal Articles (7)

Conference Papers (2)

Thesis (1)

Book Chapter

Liu, Guoquan, Massel, Karen, Tabet, Basam and Godwin, Ian D. (2020). Biolistic DNA delivery and its applications in Sorghum bicolor. Biolistic DNA delivery in plants: methods and protocols. (pp. 197-215) New York, NY, United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-0356-7_10

Journal Articles

Massel, Karen, Godwin, Ian and Hickey, Lee (2021). Tunable crops are just a spray away. Nature Plants, 7 (2), 102-103. doi: 10.1038/s41477-021-00849-6

Massel, Karen, Lam, Yasmine, Wong, Albert C. S., Hickey, Lee T., Borrell, Andrew K. and Godwin, Ian D. (2021). Hotter, drier, CRISPR: the latest edit on climate change. Theoretical and Applied Genetics. doi: 10.1007/s00122-020-03764-0

Campbell, B. C., Al Kouba, J., Timbrell, V., Noor, M. J., Massel, K., Gilding, E. K., Angel, N., Kemish, B., Hugenholtz, P., Godwin, I. D. and Davies, J. M. (2020). Tracking seasonal changes in diversity of pollen allergen exposure: targeted metabarcoding of a subtropical aerobiome. Science of the Total Environment, 747 141189, 141189. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141189

Zhang, Yi, Massel, Karen, Godwin, Ian D. and Gao, Caixia (2019). Correction to: Applications and potential of genome editing in crop improvement. Genome Biology, 20 (1) 13, 13-13. doi: 10.1186/s13059-019-1622-6

Zhang, Yi, Massel, Karen, Godwin, Ian D. and Gao, Caixia (2018). Applications and potential of genome editing in crop improvement. Genome Biology, 19 (1) 210, 210. doi: 10.1186/s13059-018-1586-y

Massel, Karen, Campbell, Bradley C., Mace, Emma S., Tai, Shuaishuai, Tao, Yongfu, Worland, Belinda G., Jordan, David R., Botella, Jose R. and Godwin, Ian D. (2016). Whole genome sequencing reveals potential new targets for improving nitrogen uptake and utilization in Sorghum bicolor. Frontiers in Plant Science, 7 (OCTOBER2016) 1544, 1544. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2016.01544

Massel, Karen, Silke, Jordan R. and Bonen, Linda (2016). Multiple splicing pathways of group II trans-splicing introns in wheat mitochondria. Mitochondrion, 28, 23-32. doi: 10.1016/j.mito.2016.03.002

Conference Papers

Campbell, B., Al Kouba, J., Noor, M., Timbrell,, Gilding, E., Angel, N., Kemish, B., Massel, K., Hugenholz, P., Godwin, and Davies, J. M. (2019). Temporal changes in molecular aerobiome diversity by applying DNA metabarcode sequencing across the pollen season. Congress of the European-Academy-of-Allergy-and-Clinical-Immunology (EAACI), Lisbon, Portugal, 1-5 June 2019. Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: Wiley-Blackwell.

Ngu, Matthew, Massel, Karen and Bonen, Linda (2017). Group II introns in wheat mitochondria have degenerate structural features and varied splicing pathways. 1st International Caparica Conference in Splicing (SPLICING), Lisbon Portugal, Sep 12-14, 2016. Kidlington, Oxford United Kingdom: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2017.05.014

Thesis

Massel, Karen (2019). Optimising molecular tools to study nitrogen utilisation for grain protein storage in Sorghum bicolor. PhD Thesis, School of Agriculture & Food Sciences, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/uql.2019.929