> Marc Van Montagu elected EFB President
Marc Van Montagu elected EFB President
Barcelona, 23/01/2006 - Professor Marc Van Montagu, who has received numerous awards for his pioneering scientific work, has been elected new president of the European Federation of Biotechnology (EFB). He officially took office at the last Executive Board meeting of the Federation in Barcelona on January 14.
According to Prof. Van Montagu, one of his immediate goals for the EFB will be to “help stimulate capacity building in Europe to diminish the political attitude against transgenic plants, and therefore sometimes against biotechnology and science in general”. It is necessary that scientists “communicate with society to clarify how important transgenic plants and biotechnology in general are for Europe”, said Montagu.
Born in Gent (Belgium) in 1933, Marc Van Montagu discovered, along with his colleague Prof. Jeff Schell, the gene transfer mechanism between Agrobacterium and plants, which resulted in the development of methods to alter Agrobacterium into an efficient delivery system for gene engineering in plants. He developed molecular mechanisms for cell proliferation and differentiation and response to abiotic stresses (high light, ozone, cold, salt and drought) and constructed transgenic crops (tobacco, rape seed, corn) resistant to insect pest and tolerant to novel herbicides. His work with poplar trees resulted in engineering of trees with improved pulping qualities.
Professor Van Montagu has received numerous outstanding awards for his pioneering work, including the prestigious “Japan Prize”. He holds 6 Doctor Honoris Causa Degrees and he has published more than 700 publications in international and national journals and books. He is foreign associate of the National Academy of Science (USA) since 1986 and the Agricultural Academy of Russia and France. In 1990 he was granted the title of “Baron” by Baudouin I, King of the Belgians.
The European Federation of Biotechnology is the non-profit association of national and cross-national learned societies, universities, institutes, companies and individuals interested in the promotion of Biotechnology throughout Europe and beyond. The EFB, established by European scientists in 1978, has 15 regional branch offices in Europe, and the Central Office is in Barcelona.
Contact Info:
EFB Central Office
Anna Alsina
Communications Coordinator
Pg. Lluis Companys 23
Barcelona, 08010, Spain
Tel: +34 93 268 77 03
Fax: +34 93 268 45 00
E-mail: anna@efb-central.org