International Advisory Board
From BINAS
The International Advisory Board
The course is under the supervision of an International Advisory Board that ensures the high standard of the training programme as well as its consistency over all geographic regions. In addition, the Board's remit includes ensuring that the course content corresponds to the needs of the countries within each region.
The International Advisory Board is responsible for establishing the criteria for the selection, the assessment and evaluation of trainees. The review of the overall training programme is an ongoing task of the Board Members:
Prof. Dr. Werner Arber (Switzerland)
Expertise:
- Microbial Genetics
- Molecular Genetics
- Genetic Variation and Evolution
- Biotechnology
Current Affiliation:
- Division of Molecular Microbiology, Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel. Switzerland
- Nobel Laureate for Medicine/Physiology in 1978
Research Area:
Prof. Dr. Werner Arber obtained his academic education in natural sciences at the ETH Zurich and at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. After postdoctoral work in the USA he returned in 1960 as Research Associate to the University of Geneva where he later became promoted as Associate Professor. In 1970 to 71 he spend one year as Research Professor at the University of California in Berkeley before taking full professorship in molecular microbiology at the Biozentrum in the University of Basel, Switzerland. From 1986 to 88 he was Rector of the University of Basel. He retired in 1996.
His scientific activities concern microbial and molecular genetics and biotechnology, especially bacteriophage genetics and lysogeny, phage-mediated transduction, bacterial restriction and modification systems, site-specific recombination, transposition of mobile genetic elements, molecular mechanisms of genetic variation and molecular evolution.
In 1978 Prof. Arber was honoured with the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of restriction enzymes and their application to problems of molecular genetics. He also received several honorary doctoral degrees and he is either member or honorary member of a number of scientific academies and societies, such as EMBO, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Academia Europea, the national Academy of Sciences of the USA, the America Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Microbiology, the Korean Academy of Sciences, the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the Spanish Academy of Engineering, the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences.
Werner Arber has devoted part of his activities to national and international science politics. Among others, he was for 11 years member and Vice-President of the Swiss Science Council. From 1996 to 99 he was President of the International Council for Science (ICSU). In all of his activities he promoted broad interdisciplinary collaboration on the basis of scientific excellence of the partners involved.
Address:
Division of Molecular Microbiology
Biozentrum, University of Basel
Klingelbergstrasse 50/70
CH-4056 Basel / Switzerland
Email: werner.arber@unibas.ch
Phone: +41 61 267 21 30
Fax: +41 61 267 21 18
Secretariat: Elvira Amstutz
Email: elvira.amstutz@unibas.ch
Phone:+41 61 267 21 44
External link
Prof. Dr. Norman C. Ellstrand (USA)
Expertise:
- Human Heredity (for non-majors)
- Risks and Benefits of Agricultural Biotechnology
- Applied Evolutionary Genetics
Current Affiliation:
- Professor of Genetics, Department of Botany & Plant Sciences and
- Director, Biotechnology Impacts Center, University of California at Riverside, California, USA
- Adjunct Professor, Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, USA
- Research Associate, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, USA
Research Area:
Prof. Dr. Norman C. Ellstrand is a Professor of Genetics at the University of California Riverside. After receiving his B.S. in Biology (with highest honors) at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, he was trained as a plant evolutionary geneticist, receiving a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1978. His research now focuses on applied plant population genetics. His specific current emphasis is on the consequences of gene flow from domesticated plants to their wild relatives, including the escape of engineered genes. He has published a book to Johns Hopkins University Press on that topic. He has written over 150 peer-reviewed papers, has presented his research to Congressional staff, participated in a number of activities of the National Research Council (including two recently published NRC studies on environmental impacts associated with intentional release of transgenic organisms), and lived in Sweden for four months on a Fulbright Fellowship.
Norman Ellstrand’s primary undergraduate teaching effort has been "Human Heredity for Non-majors" because he believes that non-scientists should learn that science is important, interesting, and intuitive. All of those who received a Ph.D. under his guidance are involved in science-based careers in industry, the public sector, and academia. In addition Dr. Ellstrand has helped to create new units on his campus; two examples are UCR's Center for Conservation Biology and its Biotechnology Impacts Center (of which he is Director).
Prof. Dr. Jonathan Gressel (Israel, USA)
Expertise:
- Plant Biotechnology
Current Affiliation:
- Emeritus Professor of Plant Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
Research Area:
Prof. Dr. Jonathan Gressel received his university training in plant physiology at Ohio State University (B.Sc.) and the University of Wisconsin (M.Sc., Ph.D.), USA. He has been on the staff of the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel since then, except for sabbatical leaves at Purdue, Australian National University, USDA Bio Research Labs Fargo, in England, and at Iowa State, USA. He is presently continuing active research, teaching and writing as an emeritus Professor of Plant Sciences, after retiring from his endowed chair.
He is a pioneer researcher in dealing with metabolic controls, especially by anti-metabolites and pesticides, and has shown how secondary metabolite pathways can be changed by such compounds to have plants produce desirable products, or to die, or to kill attached weeds, either directly or via biocontrol agents. This includes collaborations in dealing with parasitic weeds, especially in Africa. He has been conducting research in areas of transgenic biosafety, especially developing methods for preventing transgene movement from crops or biocontrol agents, and its mitigation. He is on the editorial board of four journals in plant sciences and is active in international organizations and collaborations in plant sciences. He is the author of over 275 scientific papers and book chapters and author, co-author, or editor of books dealing with these issues. Prof. Gressel’s latest edited books are entitled Crop Ferality and Volunteerism (2005), Novel Biotechnologies for Biocontrol Agent Enhancement and Management (2007), Integrating New Technologies for Striga Control: Ending the Witch-hunt (2007) and his single authored books are Molecular Biology of Weed Control (2002) and Genetic Glass Ceilings - Transgenics for Crop Biodiversity (2007).
Address:
Plant Sciences Weizmann Institute of Science,
Rehovot IL76100, Israel
Telephone:+972-8-934-3481
Fax:+972-8-934-418
Email: Jonathan.Gressel@weizmann.ac.il
Prof. Dr. Roger Hull (United Kingdom)
Expertise:
- Plant molecular biology
- Plant virology
- Tropical crops
Current Affiliation:
- Emeritus Fellow, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, UK
Research Area:
Prof. Dr. Roger Hull graduated in Botany at Cambridge University in 1960 gained a PhD in Plant Pathology at the University of London in 1964 and was awarded a DSc in Plant Virology by the University of London in 1980. Other awards include Honorary Professorships at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK and at Peking University, China, an Honorary Doctorate at the University of Perpignan, France and Fellowship of the American Phytopathological Society. His career started as a Demonstrator/Assistant Lecturer in Plant Pathology and Agricultural Botany at Wye College, University of London. He then went as a Scientific Researcher to the Virus Research Unit at Cambridge and moved to the John Innes Institute until his retirement in 1997 when he was awarded an Emeritus Fellowship.
His initial training was as a plant pathologist studying the epidemiology and identification of plant viruses. On moving to Cambridge and then to John Innes his interests changed to the structure and composition of viruses. In 1974, he spent a sabbatical year in Davis, California and became involved in the very early development of molecular biology. On return to the UK he applied molecular biological techniques to the study of plant viruses, especially those of rice and banana. As well as a desire for basic knowledge, he is interested in the possibilities that such knowledge could be used in designing resistance in plants to virus infection. Coupled with investigating new approaches to making plants resistant to viruses he had projects on the assessment of possible risks accruing from the field release of plants transformed with viral nucleic acid sequences. One of his main thrusts is the application of the results and techniques from modern approaches to plant virology to the end user in developing countries. In his retirement at the statutory age he became involved in the full application of this technology to developing countries by being involved in studies as how the basic problems could be overcome. He has been involved with the UNIDO biosafety course since its inception.
He has more than 250 scientific publications and has written the standard plant virus text book.
Address:
John Innes Institute, Norwich, UK NR8 5DD
Telephone: +44-0160-3450299
Email: roger.hull@bbsrc.ac.uk
Dr. Harry Kuiper (The Netherlands)
Expertise:
- Safety assessment of residues of agrochemicals in food, of health protecting compounds and of genetically modified foods
- Allergenicity of Genetically Modified Foods
Current Affiliation:
- International Account Manager and Programme Leader, RIKILT – Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen University & Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Research Area:
Dr. Harry A. Kuiper is International Account Manager and Programme Leader at RIKILT – Institute of Food Safety, Wageningen University & Research Centre, The Netherlands since 1984. He received his academic training at the Agricultural University Wageningen in food science, and completed in 1976 a PhD-study at the State University of Groningen, Department of Biochemistry, concerning the structure and function of hemocyanins and hemoglobins. He worked from 1976-1980 at the University of Rome, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry as a postdoc fellow on oxygen binding of hemocyanins and hemoglobins.
Dr. Kuiper is involved in safety assessment of residues of agrochemicals in food, of health protecting compounds and of genetically modified foods. He is leader of various national and EU-financed projects concerning food safety. He served as member of the EU Scientific Committee on Plants from 1997 till 2003, chairs since May 2003 the Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and is member of the EFSA Scientific Committee. He was co-ordinator of the European Network on Safety Assessment of Transgenic Foods (ENTRANSFOOD) (2000-2004) funded under the EU 5-th Framework Programme, and is co-ordinator of the Integrated Project “Promoting Food Safety through a New Integrated Risk Analysis Approach for Foods” (SAFE FOODS), funded under the EU 6-th Framework Programme.
He was member of the OECD Task Force on the Safety of Genetically Modified Foods, the Italian Advisory Committee on Biotechnology in Agriculture (1999-2002) and of the IUPAC-Committee on Agrochemicals and the Environment. Furthermore he participated in the FAO/WHO Expert Consultations on the Safety of Genetically Modified Foods (1996), chaired the FAO/WHO Consultation on Foods Derived from Biotechnology (2000) and participated in the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Allergenicity of Genetically Modified Foods (2001). He chaired the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the Safety Assessment of Foods derived from GM Animals, held in 2003 in Rome.
Dr. Ajay Parida (India)
Expertise:
- Coastal Ecosystem Management
- Molecular Biology
- Cytogenetics
- Genetic Indexing of Wild Relatives and Land Races
- Biosafety
Current Affiliation:
- Programme Director, Biotechnology Programme, M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, India
Research Area:
Dr. Ajay Parida is cytogenetist and molecular biologist by training and is currently the Director of the Biotechnology Programme at the M. S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. He has made outstanding contribution in the area of Coastal Ecosystem management through integrated use of traditional and modern biotechnologies. He has successfully utilised molecular marker systems in mangrove species in understanding species relationship, developing unambiguous species identification systems, depicting population genetic structure and evolving site-specific conservation strategies. His work on genetic indexing of wild relatives and land races of cultivated legumes, millet species and Rice, has contributed to the understanding of genetic structure of the species/ populations. His ongoing work on identification, characterisation and transfer of novel genetic combinations from mangroves has resulted in isolation of a number of genes for abiotic stress tolerance from Avicennia marina. He has undertaken large scale sequencing of ESTs (of over 4000 ESTs sequenced, 2400 has been deposited in NCBI database; from Avicennia marina, Porteresia coarctata and Prosopis juliflora. Transformation and Transgenic systems in Brassica, Vigna and Rice incorporating some of the isolated genes are in different stages of development. This work has far reaching implications in developing location specific crop varieties offering resistance/ tolerance to coastal salinity. He has guided/ guiding over fifteen Ph. D. students and published over 50 peer reviewed research papers and many in conferences and seminars.
Dr. Parida is also actively involved in application of biotechnology at the grass roots level. He has also played a major role in organization of several multistakeholder dialogues in the area of biotechnology application, dissemination and biosafety issues. He has served in the National Biosafety Regulatory Committee and has been involved in many international fora as an expert in the area of Biotechnology, Biosafety and Capacity Building. He has also contributed significantly towards creating scientific awareness, genetic literacy and legal empowerment of the local communities, through establishment of “Genome Clubs”. Dr. Parida’s efforts thus combine the best of technology with social applications.
Dr. Eugene Terry (Sierra Leone, Kenya)
Expertise:
- Plant Pathology
- Capacity Building And Institutional Management
- Research Management, Technology Generation And Dissemination
Current Affiliation:
- Implementing Director and Member of the Board of Trustees, African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), Nairobi, Kenya
- Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the World Agroforestry Centre,Nairobi, Kenya
Research Area:
Dr. Eugene Terry is a Sierra Leone national, trained in Plant Pathology. Dr. Terry is an agricultural research and development specialist with thirty-six years of professional experience in research, research management, technology generation and dissemination. He has held leadership positions in institutional management, in universities, international agricultural research institutes, and international development agencies.
He holds a BSc in agriculture and an MSc in plant pathology from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, and a PhD in plant pathology from the University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign, Illinois, USA. He has been associated with the University of Sierra Leone, and has held the position of Plant Pathologist and Director of International Cooperation and Training, at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, Nigeria.
Dr. Terry was the first Director General of the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire, a position he held for nine (9) years, before joining the World Bank in Washington DC, first as an Advisor (Agricultural Research and Extension Group-ESDAR), and then later as Crops Advisor, in the Rural Development Department, of The World Bank.
Eugene Terry was appointed Implementing Director, The African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) 2002 -2004 and is now a member of the AATF Board of Trustees. Dr. Terry held the position of Interim Network Coordinator of BioSciences Eastern and Central Africa (BECA) located at ILRI in Nairobi from April-November 2005.
Eugene is the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the World Agroforestry Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, Chairperson of the Program Steering Committee (PSC) of the CGIAR Generation Challenge Program (GCP), and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture.
Dr. Terry is now an Independent Consultant, providing technical expertise to a wide range of national, regional and international organizations in the area of agricultural research and institutional development.
Address:
Phone (in Kenya): 254 020 670743
email: e.terry@cgiar.org
Prof. Dr. Marc Van Montagu (Belgium)
Expertise:
- Cell Biology
- Microbiology
- Plant Biotechnology (inventor of Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation technology)
Current Affiliation:
- Emeritus Professor, IPBO – Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries, Ghent University, Department of Molecular Genetics, Belgium
- President, Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI), Belgium
Research Area:
Prof. Dr. Professor Van Montagu was formerly Full Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Genetics at the University of Gent (Belgium) and part-time professor at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). His main fields of research are cell biology, chemistry, virology, biotechnology, engineering, and microbiology. He is well known (with J. Schell) as the discoverer of the Ti-plasmid and the inventor of Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation technology, now used worldwide to produce genetically engineered plants. Having contributed to founding the Belgian biotech company Plant Genetics Systems, he was its Scientific Director for four years and a Member of its Board of Directors. He has won numerous prizes, is a member of several academies amongst which the National Academy of Sciences (US), and the Academies of Agriculture of France, Russia, England, Sweden, Italy, Flanders, and Catalonia. He is on the Editorial Board of more than ten scientific journals and produced over 750 publications. Currently he is President of the European Federation of Biotechnology and Chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology of Developing Countries.
Marc Van Montagu has recently been appointed president of the Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI; www.pubresreg.org)
Address:
IPBO, Dpt. Molecular Genetics
Ghent University
K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Gent, Belgium
Telephone: + 32 9 264 87 27/87 26
Fax: + 32 9 264 87 95
Email: mamon@psb.ugent.be
Prof. Dr. Jeffrey D. Wolt (USA)
Expertise:
- Risk analysis
- food safety and ecological risk assessment
- Environmental soil chemistry
Current Affiliation:
- Professor of Agronomy and Toxicology, Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products, Iowa State University, USA
Research Area:
Prof. Dr. Jeff Wolt is a Professor of Agronomy and Risk Analyst at Iowa State University. He is affiliated with the Biosafety Institute for Genetically Modified Agricultural Products (BIGMAP) and also serves on the faculty of interdepartmental programs in Toxicology and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Wolt's program focuses on the evaluation and communication of the risks and benefits associated with products and processes of plant biotechnology. His research seeks to advance quantitative risk analysis approaches in biotechnology and is currently keyed to confinement of plant biogenic production systems as well as to food and environmental safety issues pertaining to transgenic plants and their products.
Dr. Wolt's outreach activities center on presentations to and consultation with interested and affected parties locally, nationally, and internationally. He also co-teaches a graduate course in risk assessment for biological systems. Dr. Wolt earned his B.S. degree in Bio-Agricultural Sciences from Colorado State University and his M.S. an Ph.D. degrees in Agriculture with emphasis in soil chemistry from Auburn University. He has previously served on the faculty of Plant and Soil Science at the University of Tennessee; as a visiting scientist in Agronomy and Soil Science at the University of Hawaii; as an adjunct professor at Purdue University; and as a Risk Assessment Leader and Advisor with Dow Chemical/Dow AgroSciences. Dr. Wolt has over 125 peer-review publications and authored the text, Soil Solution Chemistry. He is an Agronomy Fellow.
