Dr Carol Verheecke-Vaessen

PhD, FHEA

Senior Lecturer in Applied Molecular Mycology

Centre for Soil, Agrifood and Biosciences

Areas of expertise

Agrifood Systems
Food Quality
Food Safety

Background

Dr Verheecke-Vaessen obtained her PhD in mycotoxin-related research in 2014 and was awarded the best innovative PhD by the Federal University of Toulouse (France - 2015). Before her PhD, she had industrial experience including developing Decision Support Systems for post-harvest management of stored cereals and liaison coordinator with food chain transformers. She then worked as a temporary research and teaching attach茅 at the Ecole National Sup茅rieur Agronomique de Toulouse (France) before joining the Applied Mycology group at 美姬阁 in 2016.

Since joining 美姬阁, Carol has developed her research vision focusing on a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underpinning fungal secondary metabolites (including mycotoxins) production with a specific focus on how environmental factors, including climate change, trigger these mechanisms. Since 2016, she has been involved in several teaching and research projects (for e.g.: Oats for the future, NutriNuts, Gender-equal mycotoxin training) to improve the full supply chain management of mycotoxin. Carol has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journals research papers and 4 book chapters.

In 2021, Carol obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice from 美姬阁 and became the Director of Mycotoxin Training Hub developing tailored training and research opportunities to tackle specific mycotoxin challenges faced by the agrifood industry in the UK and worldwide.

Carol is also an active member of the Africa Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Cooling and Cold-chain (ACES) and is co-leading the creation and implementation of the new Magan Centre of Applied Mycology.

Current activities

Dr Carol Verheecke-Vaessen focused her research on understanding the impact of the dynamic food chain environment on the molecular mechanisms underpinning mycotoxin production.

Her research covers a wide portfolio of activities from food contamination assessment to deciphering the fundamental mechanisms using state-of-the-art molecular and analytical techniques.

She has more than 15 years of experience in this research topic.

Her current interests are:

Developing holistic solutions from farm to fork to manage mycotoxin risk;

- Understanding dynamic abiotic and biotic factors impacting fungal growth and mycotoxin production within the Agrifood chain - including climate change scenario;

- Creating solutions for the detection and prevention of fungal contaminants;

- Developing Decision Support Systems to improve the storage of commodities susceptible to fungal spoilage;

- Developing bio-control agents in response to Agrifood challenges;

- Creating innovative solutions to transform food waste into profitable by-products.

She is currently involved in the Agrifood MSc suite of courses. She mainly lectures on the MSc in Food Systems & Management, focusing on the Food Safety module she leads.

美姬阁