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). Prior to her PhD, she had industrial experience including the development of Decision Support Systems for post-harvest management of stored cereals and liaison coordinator with food chain transformers. She then worked for two years as a temporary research and teaching attaché at the Ecole National Supérieur Agronomique de Toulouse (France) prior to joining the Applied Mycology group at Cranfield University in 2016.
Since joining Cranfield, Carol has developed her own 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 40 peer-reviewed journals research papers and 4 book chapters.
In 2021, Carol obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice from Cranfield University 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.
Current activities
Dr Carol Verheecke-Vaessen has focused her research interests on deciphering the stimuli (abiotic or biotic) involved in the triggering of mycotoxins production to reduce the community exposure of these toxigenic compounds. Her research covers a while portfolio of activities from food contamination assessment to deciphering the fundamental mechanisms involved using state of the art molecular and analytical techniques.
She has more than 13 years of experience in this research topic.
Her current interest 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 detection and prevention of fungal contaminants;
- Developing of 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 with a special focus on the Food Safety Quality Management and Certification where she manages the laboratories activities, gives lectures and more recently was responsible for the hybrid teaching conversion for a CoVid19 safe environment.
Her other tasks include supervision of PhD, MSc and visiting student projects.
Clients
UKRI, Industrial partners, charities
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Djemouai N, Meklat A, Yekkour A & Verheecke-Vaessen C (2023) Actinobacteria: an underestimated source of potential microbial biocontrol agents against fusarium-related diseases in cultivated crops, European Journal of Plant Pathology, Available online 28 July 2023.
- Farwell LH, Deakin G, Harris AL, Fagg G, Passey T, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Magan N & Xu X (2023) Cladosporium species: the predominant species present on raspberries from the U.K. and Spain and their ability to cause skin and stigmata infections, Horticulturae, 9 (2) Article No. 128.
- Matmoura A, Yekkour A, Boufadi MY, Bouras N, Zitouni A, Mokrane S, Meklat A & Verheecke-Vaessen C (2023) Exploration of Actinobacteria communities in seawater and sediments of Mediterranean basin from Algerian coast displays hight diversity with new taxa and antibacterial potential, Biologia, 78 (8) 2219-2231.
- Hallsworth JE, Mswaka AY, Patriarca A, Verheecke-Vaessen C & Medina A (2023) The life and works of Professor Naresh Magan, World Mycotoxin Journal, 16 (2) 195-197.
- Kahla A, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Delpino-Deelias M, Gutierrez-Pozo M, Medina A, Magan N & Doohan F (2023) Acclimatisation of Fusarium langsethiae, F. poae and F. sporotrichioides to elevated CO2: impact on fungal growth and mycotoxin production on oat-based media, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 394 (June) Article No. 110176.
- Gil-Serna J, Patiño B, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Vázquez C & Medina Á (2022) Searching for the Fusarium spp. which are responsible for trichothecene contamination in oats. Using metataxonomy to compare the distribution of toxigenic species in fields from Spain and the UK, Toxins, 14 (9) Article No. 592.
- Mohammed A, Seid A, Terefe H, Cervini C & Verheecke-Vaessen C (2022) Harvest and post-harvest handling practices associated with Fumonisin B1 Contamination in maize (Zea mays L.): Dietary exposure and risk characterization in Eastern Ethiopia, Mycotoxin Research, 38 (4) 275-287.
- Zuo Y, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Molitor C, Medina A, Magan N & Mohareb F (2022) De novo genome assembly and functional annotation for Fusarium langsethiae, BMC Genomics, 23 (1) Article No. 158.
- Djemouai N, Meklat A, Gaceb-Terrak R, Youcef KOH, Nacer A, Saadi SA, Saad S, Verheecke-Vaessen C & Bouras N (2022) Streptomyces species from the rhizosphere of the medicinal plant Artemisia herba-alba Asso: screening for biological activities, Biologia, 77 (8) 2281-2299.
- Taleb RO, Sahir-halouane F, Harrat Z, Saker R, Belaouni HA, Matmoura A, Boubidi SC, Bouras N, Meklat A & Verheecke-Vaessen C (2022) Isolation and characterization of five Purpureocillium strains from Algerian soils and assessment of their larvicidal activity against Culex pipiens (Diptera, Culicidae), Biologia, Available online 04 November 2022 (2).
- Bouti K, Mimoune NA, Mokrane S, Djemouai N, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Mathieu F & Riba A (2022) Incidence of mycobiota and aflatoxin B1 in Algerian feed, International Journal of Postharvest Technology and Innovation, 8 (2-3) 125-144.
- Garcia-Cela E, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Ósk-Jónsdóttir I, Lawson R & Magan N (2022) Growth kinetic parameters and prediction of growth and zearalenone and deoxynivalenol production boundaries by three Fusarium asiaticum strains isolated from wheat, Fermentation, 8 (11) Article No. 577.
- Cervini C, Verheecke-Vaessen C, He T, Mohammed A, Magan N & Medina A (2022) Improvements within the peanut production chain to minimize aflatoxins contamination: an Ethiopian case study, Food Control, 136 (June) Article No. 108622.
- Garcia-Cela E, Sulyok M, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Medina A, Krska R & Magan N (2022) Interacting environmental stress factors affect metabolomics profiles in stored naturally contaminated maize, Microorganisms, 10 (5) Article No. 853.
- Djemouai N, Meklat A, Gaceb-Terrak R, Oulad Hadj Youcef K, Nacer A, Mokrane S, Bouras N & Verheecke-Vaessen C (2022) Biological activities of Streptomyces sp. Bts40 isolated from the rhizosphere of Artemisia herba-alba Asso, Universitatea din Oradea. Analele. Fascicula Biologie, 29 (1) 7-14.
- Garcia-Cela E, Verheecke-Vaessena C, Gutierrez-Pozo M, Kiaitsi E, Gasperini AM, Magan N & Medina A. (2021) Unveiling the effect of interacting forecasted abiotic factors on growth and aflatoxin B1 production kinetics by Aspergillus flavus, Fungal Biology, 125 (2) 89-94.
- Verheecke-Vaessen C, Garcia-Cela E, Lopez-Prieto A, Jonsdottir IO, Medina A & Magan N (2021) Water and temperature relations of Fusarium langsethiae strains and modelling of growth and T-2 and HT-2 mycotoxin production on oat-based matrices, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 348 (June) Article No. 109203. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.14473143
- Abdelmohsen S, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Garcia-Cela E, Medina A & Magan N (2021) Dynamics of solute/matric stress interactions with climate change abiotic factors on growth, gene expression and ochratoxin A production by Penicillium verrucosum on a wheat-based matrix, Fungal Biology, 125 (1) 62-68.
- Verheecke-Vaessen C, Lopez-Pietro A, Garcia-Cela E, Medina A & Magan N (2021) Intra-species variability in Fusarium langsethiae strains in growth and T-2/HT-2 mycotoxin production in response to climate change abiotic factors, World Mycotoxin Journal, Available online 30 June 2021 (1). Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.14807778
- Cervini C, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Ferrara M, García-Celac E, Magistà D, Medina A, Gallo A, Magan N & Perrone G (2021) Interacting climate change factors (CO2 and temperature cycles) effects on growth, secondary metabolite gene expression and phenotypic ochratoxin A production by Aspergillus carbonarius strains on a grape-based matrix, Fungal Biology, 125 (February) 115-122.
- Isidro‐Sánchez J, Cusack KD, Verheecke‐Vaessen C, Kahla A, Bekele W, Doohan F, Magan N & Medina A (2020) Genome‐wide association mapping of Fusarium langsethiae infection and mycotoxin accumulation in oat (Avena sativa L.), Plant Genome, The, 13 (2) Article No. e20023.
- Portell X, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Torrelles-Ràfales R, Medina A, Otten W, Magan N & García-Cela E (2020) Three-dimensional study of F. graminearum colonisation of stored wheat: post-harvest growth patterns, dry matter losses and mycotoxin contamination, Microorganisms, 8 (8) Article No. 1170. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.12771347
- McGenity TJ & et al (2020) Visualizing the invisible: class excursions to ignite children's enthusiasm for microbes [Editorial], Microbial Biotechnology, 13 (4) 844-887.
- Bouti K, Verheecke‐Vaessen C, Mokrane S, Meklat A, Djemouai N, Sabaou N, Mathieu F & Riba A (2020) Polyphasic characterization of Aspergillus section Flavi isolated from animal feeds in Algeria, Journal of Food Safety, 40 (February) Article No. e12743.
- Garcia-Cela E, Sanchez FG, Sulyok M, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Medina A, Kruska R & Magan N (2020) Carbon dioxide production as an indicator of Aspergillus flavus colonisation and aflatoxins/cyclopiazonic acid contamination in shelled peanuts stored under different interacting abiotic factors, Fungal Biology, 124 (January) 1-7.
- Verheecke‐Vaessen C, Monte J, Garcia‐Cela E, Magan N & Medina A (2020) Proof of concept: could snake venoms be a potential source of bioactive compounds for control of mould growth and mycotoxin production, Letters in Applied Microbiology, 71 (November 2020) 459-465.
- Abdelmohsen S, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Garcia-Cela E, Medina A & Magan N (2020) Solute and matric potential stress on Penicillium verrucosum: impact on growth, gene expression and ochratoxin A production, World Mycotoxin Journal, 13 (3) 345-353.
- Prabhu AA, Thomas DJ, Ledesma-Amaro R, Leeke GA, Medina A, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Coulon F, Agrawal D & Kumar V (2020) Biovalorisation of crude glycerol and xylose into xylitol by oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica, Microbial Cell Factories, 19 (1) Article No. 121.
- Marcon Gasperini A, Rodrigues-Sixtos A, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Garcia-Cela E, Medina A & Magan N (2019) Resilience of biocontrol for aflatoxin minimisation strategies: climate change abiotic factors may affect control in non-GM and GM-maize cultivars, Frontiers in Microbiology, 10 (November) Article No. 2525.
- Verheecke-Vaessen C, Diez-Gutierrez L, Renaud J, Sumarah M, Medina A & Magan N (2019) Interacting climate change environmental factors effects on Fusarium langsethiae growth, expression of Tri genes and T-2/HT-2 mycotoxin production on oat-based media and in stored oats, Fungal Biology, 123 (8) 618-624. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.8298053
- Garcia-Cela E, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Magan N & Medina A (2018) The "-omics" contributions to the understanding of mycotoxin production under diverse environmental conditions, Current Opinion in Food Science, 23 (October) 97-104.
- Zebiri S, Mokrane S, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Choque E, Reghioui H, Sabaou N, Mathieu F & Riba A (2018) Occurrence of ochratoxin A in Algerian wheat and its milling derivatives, Toxin Reviews, In press (3).
- Lahoum A, Verheecke-Vaessen C, Bouras N, Sabaou N & Mathieu F (2017) Taxonomy of mycelial actinobacteria isolated from Saharan soils and their efficiency to reduce aflatoxin B1 content in a solid-based medium, Annals of Microbiology, 67 (3) 231-237.
- El Khour R, Atoui A, Verheecke C, Maroun R, El Khoury A & Mathieu F (2016) Essential oils modulate gene expression and ochratoxin a production in Aspergillus carbonarius, Toxins, 8 (8) Article No. 242.
- Lahoum A, Aouiche A, Bouras N, Verheecke C, Klenk H, Sabaou N & Mathieu F (2016) Antifungal activity of a Saharan strain of Actinomadura sp. ACD1 against toxigenic fungi and other pathogenic microorganisms, Journal de Mycologie Médicale, 26 (3) 193-200.
- Lahoum A, Bouras N, Verheecke C, Mathieu F, Schumann P, Spröer C, Klenk H & Sabaou N (2016) Actinomadura adrarensis sp. nov., an actinobacterium isolated from saharan soil, International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, 66 (7) 2724-2729.
- Verheecke C, Liboz T & Mathieu F (2016) Microbial degradation of aflatoxin B1: Current status and future advances, International Journal of Food Microbiology, 237 1-9.
- Mokrane S, Bouras N, Meklat A, Lahoum A, Zitouni A, Verheecke C, Mathieu F, Schumann P, Spröer C, Sabaou N & Klenk H (2016) Thermoactinomyces khenchelensis sp. nov., a filamentous bacterium isolated from soil sediment of a terrestrial hot spring, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, 109 (2) 311-317.
- Aït Mimoune N, Riba A, Verheecke C, Mathieu F & Sabaou N (2016) Fungal contamination and mycotoxin production by Aspergillus spp. isolated from dried fruits and sesame seeds, Journal of Microbiology, Biotechnology and Food Sciences, 5 (4) 301-305.
- Yekkour A, Toumatia O, Meklat A, Verheecke C, Sabaou N, Zitouni A & Mathieu F (2015) Deoxynivalenol-producing ability of Fusarium culmorum strains and their impact on infecting barley in Algeria, World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 31 (6) 875-881.
- Verheecke C, Liboz T, Anson P, Diaz R & Mathieu F (2015) Reduction of aflatoxin production by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus in interaction with streptomyces, Microbiology, 161 967-972.
- Verheecke C, Liboz T, Anson P, Zhu Y & Mathieu F (2015) Streptomyces–Aspergillus flavus interactions: impact on aflatoxin B accumulation, Food Additives and Contaminants: Part A: Chemistry, Analysis, Control, Exposure and Risk Assessment, 32 (4) 572-576.
- Verheecke C, Liboz T, Darriet M, Sabaou N & Mathieu F (2014) In vitro interaction of actinomycetes isolates with Aspergillus flavus: Impact on aflatoxins B1 and B2 production, Letters in Applied Microbiology, 58 (6) 597-603.