Keely Massar

About

Keely’s PhD research is focusing on how to ‘increase global food security by investigating post-harvest fungal rot’. Sweet potatoes are a common staple food with an average of 110 million sweet potatoes consumed globally per year. Approximately 15-65% of planted sweet potatoes are lost each year post-harvest. Rhizopus species are a significant threat to sweet potatoes, causing soft rot which makes a fungal toxin. This project will examine Rhizopus stolonifera genes and identify which are essential for germination as well as identifying environmental control methods that can inhibit fungal germination. Keely has an integrated MSc in research in Genetics from Swansea University.

Supervision

Keely is supervised by Dr. Rebecca Hall and Dr. Helen Cockerton, School of Biosciences