"Integrating Knowledge of Viruses, Cells and Plants to Control Virus Diseases"

 

Roger N. Beachy, Ph.D.

President, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
St. Louis, Missouri

Building 003 Auditorium
September 9, 2002
10:30 AM

Dr. Roger N. Beachy, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is internationally known for his groundbreaking research on virus-resistant plants. He is the founding president of the not-for-profit Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.

From 1991 to 1998, Dr. Beachy headed the Division of Plant Biology and was also co-director of the International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology at The Scripps Research Institute, a leading biomedical research center in La Jolla, California.

Dr. Beachy was a member of the Biology Department at Washington University in St. Louis from 1978 to 1991, where he was Professor and Head of the Center for Plant Science and Biotechnology. His work at Washington University, in collaboration with Monsanto Company, led to the development of the world’s first genetically modified food crop, a variety of tomato that was modified for resistance to virus disease. His technique to produce virus resistance in tomatoes has been replicated by researchers around the world to produce many types of plants with resistance to a number of different virus diseases. He has served as a consultant in plant biotechnology for several companies and frequently lectures on the applications of biotechnology in agriculture, nutrition, and human health.

Dr. Beachy has received many prestigious awards and honors for his research and contributed to 50 book chapters and over 200 journal articles.