MASCI Stefania

Professore Ordinario 
Scientific Disciplinary Sector Code  (AGR/07)
University Università degli Studi della TUSCIA 
College/Department Department  DAFNE - Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali 

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SHORT CV of Prof. Stefania Masci Qualifications: - 1984: Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Rome La Sapienza. - 1989: PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Rome La Sapienza Job roles at Tuscia University 1989-1990: Research Fellow of the International Center for Agriculture Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria) at the Laboratory of Agricultural Genetics 1990-2001: University Researcher, in Agricultural Genetics 2001-2019: Associate Professor of Agricultural Genetics 2019-present: Full Professor in Agricultural Genetics Institutional and management roles 2007-2016: Coordinator of the PhD Course in Plant Biotechnology 2016-2019: Coordinator of the PhD Program in Plant and Animal Production Sciences 2018-2022: University representative to the Gian Pietro Ballatore Cereal Research Consortium, Enna (Italy) and deputy president 2019-present: member of the Working Group on Prolamin Analysis and Toxicity (WGPAT) 2022-present: Acting President of the Gian Pietro Ballatore Cereal Research Consortium, Enna (Italy) 2022-present: deputy director of the Department of Agriculture and Forest Science (DAFNE), University of Tuscia 2023-2025: deputy President of the Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics (SIGA) and President for the two-year period 2025-2027 Teaching activities At present she is teaching "Genetic Biotechnologies" for undergraduates and "Quality and traceability of products of plant origin," for Master degree students Recent research projects - 2018-2022: Regional project -Umbria RDP Mis. 16.2 "The multifunctional chain of primitive wheat: the impact of quality agricultural production in rural development through innovation, sustainability and culture of the territory" - 2019-2022 Regional Project of Lazio Region (Lazio Innova) "Bread wheat flours with high amylose content for the development of bakery products and fresh pasta with high dietary-nutritional, sensory and environmental value - FRUMILOSIO. - 2021-2023 Regional project: CIRCE PSR Sicily 2014-2020 "Certification through Innovation and Research interventions in the local CEreals for conservation (ancient grains) supply chain." Head of UO - 2022-2025 National PRIN 2020 (Projects of High National Interest) "Grain Pangenomics for Durum Wheat Sustainable Production (PanWheatGrain)” -2022-2025 University Head of National Center for Agriculture Technologies Agritech Spoke 1 (Plant, animal and microbial genetic resources and adaptation to climate change) -2022-2025 University Head of the CURSA (University Consortium for SocioEconomic and Environmental Research) project "Processes of digitization of public administrations and production areas according to the guidelines of the Industry 4.0 Program" Impact factor and h index and citations on Scopus: 83 publications, h index 30, 2792 citations (April 8th, 2024) AUTHOR ID (SCOPUS): 7003777621 ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2857-4498 Main research interests: • Genetic, molecular and biochemical bases of wheat technological quality • Development of wheat genotypes with better technological, yield, and nutritional characteristics by using conventional and advanced procedures, among which TILLING, GMO production, and genome editing • Molecular and biochemical traceability and characterization of wheat genotypes/varieties, including modern wheat varieties and heritage/landrace wheats Main publications of the latter 10 years 1. Roberta Lupi, Sandra Denery-Papini, Helene Rogniaux, Domenico Lafiandra, Corrado Rizzi, Marco De Carli, Anne-Denise Moneret-Vautrin, Stefania Masci, Colette Larré, 2013. How much does transgenesis affect wheat allergenicity? Assessment in two GM lines over-expressing endogenous genes. Journal of Proteomics 80:281-291 2. Francesco Sestili, Federica Paoletti, Ermelinda Botticella, Stefania Masci, Rosaria Saletti, Vera Muccilli, Domenico Lafiandra, 2013.Comparative proteomic analysis of kernel proteins of two high amylose transgenic durum wheat lines obtained by biolistic and Agrobacterium-mediated transformations. Journal of Cereal Science 58:15-22 3. Moscetti I., Tundo S., Janni M., Sella L., Gazzetti K., Tauzin A., Giardina T., Favaron F., Masci S., D’Ovidio R., 2013. Constitutive expression of the Xylanase Inhibitor TAXI-III delays Fusarium head blight symptoms in durum wheat transgenic plants. MPMI 26(12): 1464-1472 4. Lupi Roberta, Masci Stefania, Rogniaux Hélène, Tranquet Olivier, Brossard Chantal, Lafiandra Domenico, Moneret-Vautrin Denise, Denery-Papini Sandra, Larré Colette, 2014. Assessment of the allergenicity of soluble fractions from GM and commercial genotypes of wheats. Journal of Cereal Science 60:179-186 5. Eleonora Egidi, Francesco Sestili, Michela Janni, Renato D’ovidio, Domenico Lafiandra, Aldo Ceriotti, William H. Vensel, Donald. D. Kasarda, Stefania Masci, 2014. An asparagine residue at the N-terminus affects the maturation process of low molecular weight glutenin subunits of wheat endosperm. BMC Plant Biology BMC Plant Biology, 14:64 6. Masci S., Laino P., Janni M., Botticella E., Di Carli M., Benvenuto E., Danieli P.P., Lilley K.S., Lafiandra D., D’ovidio R., 2015. Analysis of quality-related parameters in mature kernels of PGIP transgenic bread wheat infected with Fusarium graminearum. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 63(15):3962-3969 7. Giuliani Marcella Michela, Palermo Carmen, De Santis Michele Andrea, Mentana Annalisa, Pompa Marianna, Giuzio Luigia, Masci Stefania, Centonze Diego, Flagella Zina, 2015. Differential expression of durum wheat gluten proteome under water stress during grain filling. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 63(29):6501–6512 8. B Feng, F Sestili, S Masci, B Margiotta, Z Xu, Z Yang, C Xiang, C Zhou, 2015. The Chinese bread wheat cultivar Xiaoyanmai 7 harbours genes encoding a pair of novel high molecular weight glutenin subunits inherited from cereal rye. Crop & Pasture Science, 2016, 67, 29–36 9. Santagati Vito Davide, Sestili Francesco, Lafiandra Domenico, D’ovidio Renato, Rogniaux Helene, Masci Stefania, 2016. Characterization of durum wheat high molecular weight glutenin subunits Bx20 and By20 sequences by a molecular and proteomic approach. Journal of Mass Spectrometry 51:512-517 10. María Dolores García-Molina, Vera Muccilli, Rosaria Saletti, Salvatore Foti, Stefania Masci, Francisco Barro, 2017. Comparative proteomic analysis of two transgenic low-gliadin wheat lines and non-transgenic wheat control. Journal of Proteomics 165:102-112 11. Francesco Camerlengo; Francesco Sestili; Marco Silvestri; Giuseppe Colaprico; Benedetta Margiotta; Roberto Ruggeri; Roberta Lupi; Stefania Masci; Domenico Lafiandra 2017. Production and molecular characterization of bread wheat lines with reduced amount of a-type gliadins. BMC Plant Biology 17:248 12. Janni M, Bozzini T, Di Giovanni M, Moscetti I, Lupi R, Gennaro A, Volpi C, Masci S, D’Ovidio R, 2018. First production of wild emmer (Triticum turgidum ssp. dicoccoides) transgenic plants. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 132:461-467 13. Silvio Tundo, Roberta Lupi, Mickael Lafond, Thierry Giardina, Colette Larré, Sandra Denery-Papini, Martine Morisset, Raviraj Kalunke, Francesco Sestili, and Stefania Masci, 2018. Wheat alpha-amylase and trypsin inhibitors (ATI) CM3, CM16 and 0.28 allergens produced in Pichia pastoris display a different eliciting potential in food allergy to wheat. Plants 7:101 14. Francesco Sestili, Riccardo Pagliarello, Alessandra Zega, Rosaria Saletti, Anna Pucci, Ermelinda Botticella, Stefania Masci, Silvio Tundo, Ilaria Moscetti, Salvatore Foti, Domenico Lafiandra, 2019. Enhancing grain size in durum wheat using RNAi to knock-down GW2 genes. TAG 132(2): 419-429 15. Roberta Lupi, Sandra Denery-Papini, Mathilde Claude, Olivier Tranquet, Martine Drouet, Stefania Masci, Colette Larré, 2019. Thermal treatment reduces gliadin recognition by IgE, but a subsequent digestion and epithelial crossing permits recovery. Food Research International 118:22-31 16. Francesco Sestili, Maria Dolores Garcia-Molina, Gianluca Gambacorta, Romina Beleggia, Ermelinda Botticella, Pasquale De Vita, Daniel-Valentin Savatin, Stefania Masci, Domenico Lafiandra, 2019. Provitamin A biofortification of durum wheat through a TILLING approach. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 20:5703 17. Benucci I., Caso M.C., Bavaro T., Masci S., Keršienė M. and Esti M., 2020. Prolyl endopeptidase from Aspergillus niger immobilized on a food-grade carrier for the production of gluten reduced beer. Food Control, 110:106987 18. Maryke Labuschagne, Stefania Masci, Silvio Tundo, Vera Muccilli, Rosaria Saletti, Angeline van Biljon, 2020. Proteomic Analysis of Proteins Responsive to Drought and Low Temperature Stress in a Hard Red Spring Wheat Cultivar. Molecules 2020, 25, 1366 19. Gagliardi, A.; Carucci, F.; Masci, S.; Flagella, Z.; Gatta, G.; Giuliani, M.M. Effects of Genotype, Growing Season and Nitrogen Level on Gluten Protein Assembly of Durum Wheat Grown under Mediterranean Conditions. Agronomy 2020, 10, 755 20. Sissons, M.; Sestili, F.; Botticella, E.; Masci, S.; Lafiandra, D. Can Manipulation of Durum Wheat Amylose Content Reduce the Glycaemic Index of Spaghetti? Foods 2020, 9, 693 21. Francesco Camerlengo, Arianna Frittelli, Caroline Sparks, Angela Doherty, Damiano Martignago, Colette Larré, Roberta Lupi, Francesco Sestili, Stefania Masci, 2020. CRISPR-Cas9 multiplex editing of the α-amylase/trypsin inhibitor genes to reduce allergen proteins in durum wheat. Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 4:104 22. Raviraj M. Kalunke, Silvio Tundo, Francesco Sestili, Francesco Camerlengo, Domenico Lafiandra, Roberta Lupi, Colette Larré, Sandra Denery-Papini, Shahidul Islam, Wujun Ma, Stefano D’Amico, Stefania Masci, 2020. Reduction of Allergenic Potential in Bread Wheat RNAi Transgenic Lines Silenced for CM3, CM16 and 0.28 ATI Genes. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 21, 5817 23. Francesco Sestili, Benedetta Margiotta, Patrizia Vaccino, Salvatore Moscaritolo, Debora Giorgi, Sergio Lucretti, Samuela Palombieri, Stefania Masci and Domenico Lafiandra, 2020. A cross between bread wheat and a 2D(2R) disomic 2 substitution triticale line leads to the formation of a 3 novel disomic addition line and provides information 4 of the role of rye secalins on breadmaking 5 characteristics. Int. J. Mol. Sci., 21, 8450 24. Roy, Nandita; Islam, Shahidul; Al-habbar, Zaid; Yu, Zitong; Liu, Hang; Lafiandra, Domenico; Masci, Stefania; Lu, Meiqin; Sultana, Nigarin; Ma, Wujun, 2021. Contribution to bread making performance of two different HMW glutenin 1Ay alleles expressed in hexaploid wheat. J. Agric. Food Chem. 2021, 69, 1, 36–44 25. Katharina Anne Scherf, Carlo Catassi, Fernando G Chirdo, Paul J. Ciclitira, Conleth Francis Feighery, Carmen Gianfrani, Frits Koning, Knut E. A. Lundin, Stefania Masci, Detlef Schuppan, Marinus J M Smulders, Olivier Tranquet, Riccardo Troncone and Peter Koehler, 2021. Statement of the Prolamin Working Group on the determination of gluten in fermented foods containing partially hydrolyzed gluten. Frontiers in Nutrition 7, 346 26. Sabrina Geisslitz, Peter Shewry, Fred Brouns, Antoine H. America, Giacomo P. Caio, Matthew E. Daly, Stefano D'Amico, Roberto De Giorgio, Luud Gilissen, Heinrich Grausgruber, Xin Huang, Daisy Jonkers, Daniel Keszthelyi, Colette Larré, Stefania Masci, Clare Mills, Marie S. Møller, Mark E. Sorrells, Birte Svensson, Victor Zevallos, Peter L. Weegels, 2021. Wheat ATIs: characteristics and role in human disease. Front. Nutr. 8:667370 27. Maria Dolores Garcia Molina, Ermelinda Botticella, Romina Beleggia, Samuela Palombieri, Pasquale De Vita, Stefania Masci, Domenico Lafiandra, Francesco Sestili, 2021. Enrichment of provitamin A content in durum wheat grain by suppressing the beta-carotene hydroxylase 1 with a TILLING approach. TAG 134(12):4013-4024 28. Cammerata, A.; Laddomada, B.; Milano, F.; Camerlengo, F.; Bonarrigo, M.; Masci, S.; Sestili, F. Qualitative Characterization of Unrefined Durum Wheat Air-Classified Fractions. Foods 2021, 10, 2817 29. Geisslitz Sabrina, Weegels Peter, Shewry Peter, Zevallos Victor, Masci Stefania, Sorrells Mark, Gregorini Armando, Colomba Mariastella, Jonkers Daisy, Huang Xin, De Giorgio Roberto, Caio Giacomo P., D’Amico Stefano, Larré Colette, Brouns Fred, 2022. Wheat Amylase/Trypsin Inhibitors (ATIs): occurrence, function and health aspects. Eur J Nutr 61, 2873–2880 30. Geisslitz S, Islam S, Buck L, Grunwald-Gruber C, Sestili F, Camerlengo F, Masci S and D’Amico S (2022) Absolute and relative quantitation of amylase/trypsin-inhibitors by LC-MS/MS from wheat lines obtained by CRISPR-Cas9 and RNAi.Front. Plant Sci. 13:974881. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.974881 31. Di Rosa, C.; De Arcangelis, E.; Vitelli, V.; Crucillà, S.; Angelicola, M.; Trivisonno, M.C.; Sestili, F.; Blasi, E.; Cicatiello, C.; Lafiandra, D.; Masci S., Messia M.C., De Gara L., Marconi E., Khazraiet Y.M., 2023. Effect of Three Bakery Products Formulated with High-Amylose Wheat Flour on Post-Prandial Glycaemia in Healthy Volunteers. Foods 2023, 12, 319 32. Frittelli A, Botticella E, Palombieri S, Masci S, Celletti S, Fontanella MC, Astolfi S, De Vita P, Volpato M and Sestili F (2023) The suppression of TdMRP3 genes reduces the phytic acid and increases the nutrient accumulation in durum wheat grain. Front. Plant Sci. 14:1079559 33. Tafuri Andrea, Zuccaro Melania, Ravaglia Stefano, Pirona Raul, Masci Stefania, Sestili Francesco, Lafiandra Domenico, Ceriotti Aldo, Baldoni Elena (2023) Exploring variability in free asparagine seed content in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Italian cultivars to reduce acrylamide-forming potential. Plants 2023, 12, 1349 34. Frittelli Arianna, Palombieri Samuela, Quagliata Giulia, Celletti Silvia, Astolfi Stefania, Botticella Ermelinda, Masci Stefania, De Vita Pasquale, Volpato Mirko, Sestili Francesco, 2023. The silencing of TdIPK1 genes enhances micronutrient concentration in durum wheat grain. Current Plant Biology 35-36:100309, ISSN 2214-6628, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpb.2023.100309 35. Palombieri, S., Bonarrigo, M., Cammerata, A., Quagliata, G., Astolfi, S., Lafiandra, D., Sestili, F., Masci, S., 2023. Characterization of Triticum turgidum sspp. durum, turanicum and polonicum grown in Central Italy in relation to technological and nutritional aspects. Frontiers in Plant Science, 14, 1269212. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1269212 36. Palombieri S., Bonarrigo M., Potestio S., Sestili F., Messina B., Russo G., Miceli C., Frangipane B., Genduso M., Delogu C., Andreani L., Masci S., 2024. Characterization among and within sicilian tetraploid wheat landraces by gluten protein analysis for traceability purposes. Plants 13, 741. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13050741 Scopus code 2-s2.0-85187462584 37. Covino Clelia, Tafuri Andrea, Sorrentino Angela, Masci Stefania, Baldoni Elena, Sestili Sestili, Villalonga Reynaldo, Masi Paolo, 2024. Mitigation of acrylamide formation in wood oven baked pizza base using wheat grain with low free asparagine content. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 104:4070-4082 10.1002/jsfa.13289 Dissemination papers Battaglia R., Maccaferri M., Masci S., Sestili F., Tondelli A., 2021. Il rilancio della cerealicoltura passa anche dalle TEA. In “Tecnologie di Evoluzione assistita” Informatore Agrario 2021. N. 27, supplemento del 2 settembre 2021 Book chapters 1. Porceddu, E., Turchetta, T., Masci, S., D’ovidio, R., Lafiandra, D., Kasarda, D.D., Impiglia, A. And Nachit, M.M., 1998. Variation in endosperm protein composition and technological quality properties in durum wheat. In ‘Wheat: Prospects for Global Improvement’ H.-J. Braun et al (Eds.), pp 263-271. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 2. Lafiandra, D. and Masci, S., 2003. Genetics of gluten proteins. In “Progress in Biotechnology Vol. 23. Industrial proteins in perspective” (Aalbersberg, W.Y., Hamer, R.J., Jasperse, P., de Jongh, H.H.J., de Kruif, C.G., Walstra, P., de Wolf, F.A., Eds.), Elsevier, pp.88-92 3. Lafiandra D., Masci S., Sissons M., Dornez E., Delcour J.A., Courtin C.M., Caboni M.F., 2012. Kernel components of technological value. In “Durum Wheat. Chemistry and Technology”, 2nd edition. Sissons M. et al EDS, AACC International, pp. 85-124 ISBN 978-1-891127-65-6 4. Lafiandra D., Masci S. D’Egidio M.G., 2023. Chimica e attitudine tecnologica delle materie prime. In “Biotecnologia dei Prodotti lievitati da forno” II edizione. Zanichelli (a cura di M. Gobbetti e C. G. Rizzello)