Affiliations

• Plant Science
• Bioscience

Education Profile

• ​​​​​​​​Ph.D., Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, U.K., 1988
  
• B.Sc., Plant Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia, 1984
  

Research Interests

The aim of research in Tester's Salt Lab is to understand molecular processes that allow plants to survive in suboptimal conditions, and to use this to improve the resilience of crops to a changing environment. His attention has increasingly turned to plants that are already highly salt-tolerant, and to domesticate them – such as quinoa and Salicornia. Another focus of attention has been the stress tolerance of wild relatives of tomatoes, where outcomes can be rapidly delivered by grafting commercial scions onto vigorous, salt-tolerant rootstocks. Research outputs are now being delivered through Red Sea Farms, a company co-founded by Tester and Dr. Ryan Lefers.

Selected Publications

• Engineering improved nitrogen use efficiency via recycling and remobilization of organic nitrogen, Melino, V.J., Tester, M. & Okamoto, M., Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 2022, 74:263–269.  
• Nature-inspired superhydrophobic sand mulches increase agricultural productivity and water-use efficiency in arid regions, Gallo, A. Jr, Odokonyero, K., Mousa, M.A.A., Reihmer, J., Al-Mashharawi, S., Marasco, R., Manalastas, E., Morton, M.J.L., Daffonchio, D., McCabe, M. & Tester, M., Mishra, H., ACS Agricultural Science & Technology, 2022. Also published in https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.00495
• Phenotyping a diversity panel of quinoa using UAV-retrieved leaf area index, SPAD-based chlorophyll and a random forest approach, Jiang, J., Johansen, K., Stanschewski, C.S., Wellman, G., Mousa, M.A.A., Fiene, G.M., Asiry, K.A., Tester, M., McCabe, M.F., Precision Agriculture, 2022.
• On the effects of CO2 atmosphere in the pyrolysis of Salicornia bigelovii, Aljaziria, J., Gautama, R., Alturkistania S., Fiene, G.M., Tester, M. & Sarathy, S.M., Bioresource Technology, 2022, 17: 100950. 
• Quinoa phenotyping methodologies: an international consensus, Stanschewski, C.S., Rey, E., Fiene, G., Craine, E., Wellman, G., Melino, V., Patiranage, D.S.R., Johansen, K., Schmöckel, S., Bertero, D., Oakey, H., Coloque-Little, C., Afzal, I., Miller, N., Streich, J., Amby, D.B., Warmington, M., Mousa, M., Wu, D., Andreasen, C., Jung, C., Murphy, K., Bazile, D., Tester, M, Plants, 2021, 10: 1759. 
• Characterization of epidermal bladder cells in the plant Chenopodium quinoa, Otterbach, S., Khoury, H., Rupasinghe, T., Mendis, H., Kwan, K., Lui, V., Natera, S.H.A., Klaiber, I., Allen, N.M., Jarvis, D.E., Tester, M., Roessner, U. & Schmöckel, S.M., Plant, Cell & Environment, 2021: 1-17.