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Food Science and Technology Department

Heather Hallen-AdamsDr. Heather Hallen-Adams
Assistant Professor

Education:
B.S. Plant Biology, University of Minnesota
Ph.D. Botany and Plant Pathology, Michigan State University
Post Doc: Plant Biology and DOE Plant Research Lab, Michigan State University
 

Contact Information:
319 Food Industry Complex
Lincoln, NE 68583-0919
email: hhallen-adams2@unl.edu
 

Teaching and/or Extension Activities:
Molds and Mycotoxins, Food Microbiology

Research Area:
Molecular genetic controls of toxin production in fungi.

1. Cross-talk between a toxigenic fungus (Fusarium graminearum) and its plant host (wheat) during disease development, with a focus on how the plant initiates toxin production in the fungus, and how the toxin in turn acts as a virulence factor in the plant.

2. Gene expression in food processing fungi.

3. Evolution of toxin production in poisonous mushrooms.
 

Five Selected Publications:

  • Hallen, H. E., H. Luo, J. S. Scott-Craig and J. D. Walton. 2007. Gene family encoding the major toxins of lethal Amanita mushrooms. PNAS 104: 19097-19101.
  • Hallen, H. E., M. Huebner, S.-H. Shiu, U. Gueldener and F. Trail. 2007. Gene expression shifts during perithecium development in Gibberella zeae (anamorph Fusarium graminearum), with particular emphasis on ion transport proteins. Fungal Genet. Biol. 44: 1146-1156.
  • Luo, H., H. E. Hallen-Adams and J. D. Walton. 2009. Processing the phalloidin proprotein by proly oligopeptidase from the mushroom Conocybe albipes. J. Biol. Chem. 284: 18070-18077.
  • Baldwin, T. K., I. Gaffoor, J. Antoniw, C. Andries, J. Guenther, M. Urban, H. E. Hallen-Adams, J. Pitkin, K. E. Hammond-Kosack and F. Trail. 2010. A partial chromosome deletion caused by random plasmid integration resulted in a reduced virulence phenotype in Fusarium graminearum. MPMI 23: 1083-1096.
  • Hallen, H. E., N. Wenner, G. Kuldau, F. Trail. 2011. Deoxynivalenol biosynthesis-related gene expression during wheat kernel colonization by Fusarium graminearum. Phytopathology. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-01-11-0023, http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-01-11-0023.