Rima Menassa Ph.D.

Research Scientist

London Research and Development Centre

Current research and/or projects

Technology development of alternatives to subtherapeutic and metaphylactic antimicrobials used in the beef industry (2016-2019)

Innovative synthetic biology approach for the production of particulate subunit vaccines and antibodies to be used for oral immunization and protection of farm animals. (2018-2021)

Development of IPM tools using genomic and ecological approaches for the control of insect pests in greenhouses.(2016-2019)

RNAi trap plants for horticulture (2018-2021)

Research and/or project statements

Plants as bioreactors for the production of veterinary vaccines and antibodies as alternatives to antibiotics

Transforming the chloroplast genome of various plant species for the production of dsRNA for insect pest control, and for the production of veterinary vaccines

Education and awards

PhD. in Molecular Genetics, McGill University
M.Sc. in Plant Pathology, American University of Beirut
B.Sc. in Agriculture, American University of Beirut

Additional links

Researchgate

Google Scholar

rima.menassa@canada.ca

Key publications

Scott, I.M., Zhu, H., Schieck, K., Follick, A., Reynolds, L.B., Menassa, R. (2019). Non-target effects of hyperthermostable α-amylase transgenic Nicotiana tabacum in the laboratory and the field, 10 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00878
2019 - View publication details
Tran, H.H., Chen, B., Chen, H., Menassa, R., Hao, X., Bernards, M., Hüner, N.P.A., Wang, A. (2019). Development of a cucumber green mottle mosaic virus-based expression vector for the production in cucumber of neutralizing epitopes against a devastating animal virus, 269 18-25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jviromet.2019.04.006
2019 - View publication details
Burke, W.G., Kaplanoglu, E., Kolotilin, I., Menassa, R., Donly, C. (2019). RNA interference in the tobacco hornworm, manduca sexta, using plastid-encoded long double-stranded RNA, 10 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.00313
2019 - View publication details
Ceballo, Y., Tiel, K., López, A., Cabrera, G., Pérez, M., Ramos, O., Rosabal, Y., Montero, C., Menassa, R., Depicker, A., Hernández, A. (2017). High accumulation in tobacco seeds of hemagglutinin antigen from avian (H5N1) influenza, 26(6), 775-789. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11248-017-0047-9
2017 - View publication details
Reuter, L.J., Shahbazi, M.A., Mäkilä, E.M., Salonen, J.J., Saberianfar, R., Menassa, R., Santos, H.A., Joensuu, J.J., Ritala, A. (2017). Coating Nanoparticles with Plant-Produced Transferrin-Hydrophobin Fusion Protein Enhances Their Uptake in Cancer Cells, 28(6), 1639-1648. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.7b00075
2017 - View publication details
MacDonald, J., Miletic, S., Gaildry, T., Chin-Fatt, A., Menassa, R. (2017). Co-expression with the type 3 secretion chaperone CesT from enterohemorrhagic E. coli increases accumulation of recombinant Tir in plant chloroplasts, 8 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2017.00283
2017 - View publication details
Arthur, L.L., Chung, J.J., Jankirama, P., Keefer, K.M., Kolotilin, I., Pavlovic-Djuranovic, S., Chalker, D.L., Grbic, V., Green, R., Menassa, R., True, H.L., Skeath, J.B., Djuranovic, S. (2017). Rapid generation of hypomorphic mutations, 8 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14112
2017 - View publication details
Zhu, H., Reynolds, L.B., Menassa, R. (2017). A hyper-thermostable α-amylase from Pyrococcus furiosus accumulates in Nicotiana tabacum as functional aggregates, 17(1), http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12896-017-0372-3
2017 - View publication details
Miletic, S., Simpson, D.J., Szymanski, C.M., Deyholos, M.K., Menassa, R. (2016). A plant-produced bacteriophage tailspike protein for the control of Salmonella, 6(JAN2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2015.01221
2016 - View publication details
Duwadi, K., Chen, L., Menassa, R., Dhaubhadel, S. (2015). Identification, characterization and down-regulation of cysteine protease genes in tobacco for use in recombinant protein production, 10(7), http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130556
2015 - View publication details
Saberianfar, R., Joensuu, J.J., Conley, A.J., Menassa, R. (2015). Protein body formation in leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana: A concentration-dependent mechanism influenced by the presence of fusion tags, 13(7), 927-937. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12329
2015 - View publication details
Feeney, M., Frigerio, L., Kohalmi, S.E., Cui, Y., Menassa, R. (2013). Reprogramming cells to study vacuolar development, 4(DEC), http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2013.00493
2013 - View publication details
Feeney, M., Frigerio, L., Cui, Y., Menassa, R. (2013). Following vegetative to embryonic cellular changes in leaves of Arabidopsis overexpressing LEAFY COTYLEDON2, 162(4), 1881-1896. http://dx.doi.org/10.1104/pp.113.220996
2013 - View publication details
Kaldis, A., Ahmad, A., Reid, A., Mcgarvey, B., Brandle, J., Ma, S., Jevnikar, A., Kohalmi, S.E., Menassa, R. (2013). High-level production of human interleukin-10 fusions in tobacco cell suspension cultures, 11(5), 535-545. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12041
2013 - View publication details
Chen, L., Dempsey, B.R., Gyenis, L., Menassa, R., Brandle, J.E., Dhaubhadel, S. (2013). Identification of the factors that control synthesis and accumulation of a therapeutic protein, human immune-regulatory interleukin-10, in Arabidopsis thaliana, 11(5), 546-554. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/pbi.12042
2013 - View publication details
Kolotilin, I., Kaldis, A., Devriendt, B., Joensuu, J., Cox, E., Menassa, R. (2012). Production of a subunit vaccine candidate against porcine post-weaning diarrhea in high-biomass transplastomic tobacco, 7(8), http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042405
2012 - View publication details
Bross, C.D., Corea, O.R.A., Kaldis, A., Menassa, R., Bernards, M.A., Kohalmi, S.E. (2011). Complementation of the pha2 yeast mutant suggests functional differences for arogenate dehydratases from Arabidopsis thaliana, 49(8), 882-890. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2011.02.010
2011 - View publication details
Conley, A.J., Zhu, H., Le, L.C., Jevnikar, A.M., Lee, B.H., Brandle, J.E., Menassa, R. (2011). Recombinant protein production in a variety of Nicotiana hosts: a comparative analysis, 9(4), 434-444. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7652.2010.00563.x
2011 - View publication details
Tremblay, R., Feng, M., Menassa, R., Huner, N.P.A., Jevnikar, A.M., Ma, S. (2011). High-yield expression of recombinant soybean agglutinin in plants using transient and stable systems, 20(2), 345-356. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11248-010-9419-0
2011 - View publication details
Li, X., Gao, P., Cui, D., Wu, L., Parkin, I., Saberianfar, R., Menassa, R., Pan, H., Westcott, N., Gruber, M.Y. (2011). The Arabidopsis tt19-4 mutant differentially accumulates proanthocyanidin and anthocyanin through a 3' amino acid substitution in glutathione S-transferase, 34(3), 374-388. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2010.02249.x
2011 - View publication details