Massimo Iorizzo

Bio

Dr. Massimo Iorizzo is an Associate Professor at North Carolina State University. He is a plant geneticist and his research program focuses on comparative structural genomics and genetics of traits associated with enhanced quality characteristics including health properties. Crops of interest in his program include blueberry, carrot, banana, pineapple, spinach, sweet potato, cranberry and potato. Milestones of his research on these crops includes development of six reference genomes and discovery of multiple genes involved in bioactive biosynthesis and regulation. He is the director and co-director of three multidisciplinary projects targeting blueberry, cranberry and carrot, aiming at advancing molecular breeding for quality characteristics for these crops. Through a transdisciplinary research approach he began efforts to understand the relationship among quality traits, bioactive accumulation, and their nutrigenomic properties (bioaccessibility). In the long term, his research will facilitate the selection of new fruit and vegetable cultivars with improved quality and health promoting characteristics.

Publications

• A Survey of Key Methods, Traits, Parameters, and Conditions for Measuring Texture in Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) , HORTICULTURAE (2023)
• Characterization of Purple Carrot Germplasm for Antioxidant Capacity and Root Concentration of Anthocyanins, Phenolics, and Carotenoids , PLANTS-BASEL (2023)
• Functional characterization of DcMYB11, an R2R3 MYB associated with the purple pigmentation of carrot petiole , PLANTA (2023)
• Identification of bromelain subfamily proteases encoded in the pineapple genome , SCIENTIFIC REPORTS (2023)
• Trait Mapping of Phenolic Acids in an Interspecific (Vaccinium corymbosum var. caesariense x V. darrowii) Diploid Blueberry Population , PLANTS-BASEL (2023)
• Vaccinium as a comparative system for understanding of complex flavonoid accumulation profiles and regulation in fruit , PLANT PHYSIOLOGY (2023)
• Autopolyploid inheritance and a heterozygous reciprocal translocation shape chromosome genetic behavior in tetraploid blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) , NEW PHYTOLOGIST (2022)
• Bioaccessibility and intestinal cell uptake of carotenoids and chlorophylls differ in powdered spinach by the ingredient form as measured using in vitro gastrointestinal digestion and anaerobic fecal fermentation models , FOOD & FUNCTION (2022)
• Boosting the Bioaccessibility of Dietary Bioactives by Delivery as Protein-Polyphenol Aggregate Particles , JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY (2022)
• CarrotOmics: a genetics and comparative genomics database for carrot (Daucus carota) , DATABASE-THE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL DATABASES AND CURATION (2022)