 Roger Beachy |
The first of his talks will take place on Monday, February 24 when he will present “How Plant Viruses Usurp Cellular Structure and Function to Cause Disease, and Designing Strategies to Control Them” at 4:15 p.m. in Goodrich Hall, Room 104.
Then on Tuesday, February 25 he will present “A Role for Agricultural Biotechnology in a Sustainable Future: Obligations, Opportunities, and Challenges.” The lecture will take place at 12:00 p.m. in Goodrich Hall, Room 104 on the Wabash College campus.
Beachy, a member of the National Academy of Science, is internationally known for his work on virus-resistant plants. In January 1999, he assumed the position of President of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis.
From 1991 to 1998, Beachy headed the division of plant biology at The Scripps Research Institute, a leading biomedical research center, in La Jolla, Calif. He was also co-director of the International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology.
Prior to joining the Scripps Institute, Beachy was a member of the Washington University biology department 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 altered 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 other researchers to produce many types of plants with resistance to a number of different virus diseases. Research under Beachy’s direction has led to a number of patent applications. He has edited or contributed to 50 book articles and his work has produced more than 190 journal publications.
In 2000, Beachy received The D. Robert Hoagland Award from the American Society for Plant Physiologists and the William D. Phillips Technology Advancement Award from the RCGA in St. Louis. Beachy was named R&D Magazine’s Scientist of the Year in 1999.
Beachy holds a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Michigan State University. He earned a B.A. in biology from Goshen College in Goshen, Ind.
The Haines Lecture in Biochemistry is sponsored by the William J. and Wilma M. Haines Fund for the Study in Biochemistry, a fund endowed by Dr. Willaim J. Haines ’40 and his wife Wilma J. “Shorty” Haines. The fund supports faculty-student research, equipment needs, and public programs related to the role of biochemistry in the College’s science education curriculum.