Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbus, Ohio » Soil Drainage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #206948
Title: Agricultural Biotechnology: From the lab to the market place. Partnership between FAS and ARS

Author
item Vantoai, Tara

Submitted to: Agricultural Research Service Publication
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/2006
Publication Date: 6/6/2006
Citation: Vantoai, T.T. 2006. Agricultural Biotechnology: From the lab to the market place. Partnership between FAS and ARS. Agricultural Research Service Publication. Available: http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Subsite/irp/VanToai-bio.DO

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Dr. VanToai is a Plant Physiologist and the Lead Scientist for plant flooding tolerance research at the Soil Drainage Research Unit in Columbus, Ohio. A native of Vietnam, Dr. VanToai grew up in the Mekong Delta, where the land was fertile and the water plentiful, yet many farmers faced life-long poverty. Inspired to improve their conditions and those of other farmers throughout the world, she has focused her professional career on agricultural research and training. She has collaborated with scientists from France, China, Vietnam, Hungary and Brazil on OECD-, USDA- and EMBRAPA- funded projects to determine the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms of crop plant tolerance to flooding and environmental stresses. Dr. VanToai is currently in the ARS’s PEAK SES candidacy program. She recently completed a detail assignment at USDA- Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Biotechnology Group, where she participated in the organization of the High Level Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Biotechnology at the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Push Back Campaign, which prepared responses to the WTO interim decision on the European Union moratorium on transgenic crops, and the assessment of the agricultural biotechnology regulatory framework for Russia and Vietnam accession to WTO. She is also participating in the USDA-1890 Universities Agricultural Biotechnology Initiative with sub-Saharan Africa. Dr VanToai was awarded a British Commonwealth Scholarship to attend Lincoln College in New Zealand. She earned a B.S. from the Vietnam National Institute of Agriculture, a M.S. from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. from the Ohio State University. Dr. VanToai will discuss her FAS detail experience, which has provided her broad exposure to national and international policies and regulations and their ultimate impact on scientific research in agricultural biotechnology.