Professor Carol Wagstaff
Professor
Food and Nutritional Sciences
University of Reading
United Kingdom
Biography
Professor Carol Wagstaff is currently working as a Professor of Food Biotechnology in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading , United Kingdom. Responsibilities: Chair of Eucarpia Leafy Vegetables Group Impact Lead for Food and Nutritional Sciences Research Division. Swedish Research Council panel member for Natural, Engineering and Environmental Sciences (UF-3) Advisory Board Member for Journal of Experimental Botany Editorial Board Member for Journal of Food and Agricultural Science Associate Editor of Annual Plant Reviews Online Research groups / Centres: Current Projects 2016 - 2019. BBSRC LINK grant with Elsoms Seeds and Bakkavor. Smart breeding for salad rocket. Post-doc Luke Bell, Research Technician to be appointed. 2016 - 2020. BBSRC-KTN iCASE PhD with Waitrose. Defining, predicting and delivering 'fresh' in the context of leafy salads. Jack Davey. 2015 - 2019. BBSRC iCASE PhD with Tozer Seeds. Linking biochemistry and genetics in celery to taste and flavour perceived by consumers: developing a more acceptable product. Annie-Mae Tomlins. 2015 - 2018. BBSRC HAPI with Rijk Zwaan, Bakkavor, G's Fresh, Harper Adams University, University of Warwick. A genetic approach to improving postharvest quality. Post-doc Stella Lignou, Research Technician Kala Radha. 2015 - 2018. BBSRC HAPI with Tozer Seeds, Harper Adams University, University of York. A Systems Approach to Disease Resistance Against Necrotrophic Fungal Pathogens. Research Technician Kala Radha. 2015 - 2018. KTP with MM Flowers. To develop a programme for embedding new technologies and practices for improving the vase life and quality of cut fresh flowers. TBA. 2013 - 2016. PhD student funded by Malaysian Government. Improving microbial quality of fresh rocket leaves. Nadia Yahya. 2013 - 2016. PhD student funded by Saudi Arabian Food Agency. Mapping quality traits in strawberry. Rashed Alarfaj. 2013 - 2016. MPhil student funded by University of Reading/Crops for the Future. Developing genetic resources for underutilised brassica crops. Rajeev Taggar. 2013 - 2016. PhD student funded by University of Nottingham/Crops for the Future. Understanding crop domestication. Muhamad Faiz Bin Abdul Rahman. 2012 - 2016. DTP PhD student (joint between University of Reading and Nottingham DTPs). The role of ARR22 in Brassica. Chelsea Snell.
Research Interest
To improve the quality of food, including the nutritional value, appearance, flavour and shelf life, as well as helping consumers make healthy dietary choices. Work at the interface between plants and humans to investigate which phytochemicals and food matrices benefit the consumer, in particular focusing on gut health. Resource allocation in crops and yield improvement.
Publications
-
Bennett EJ, Roberts JA, Wagstaff C. The role of the pod in seed development: strategies for manipulating yield. New Phytologist. 2011 Jun 1;190(4):838-53.
-
Bennett E, Roberts JA, Wagstaff C. Manipulating resource allocation in plants. Journal of experimental botany. 2012 Jan 30;63(9):3391-400.
-
Wagstaff C, Yang TJ, Stead AD, Buchananâ€Wollaston V, Roberts JA. A molecular and structural characterization of senescing Arabidopsis siliques and comparison of transcriptional profiles with senescing petals and leaves. The Plant Journal. 2009 Feb 1;57(4):690-705.
