Marc Van Montagu
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Marc Van Montagu is a Belgian molecular biologist. He was full Professor and director of the Laboratory of Genetics at the faculty of Sciences at the University of Ghent (Belgium) and scientific director of the Genetics Department of the Flemish Interuniversity Institute of Biotechnology (VIB). Together with Jozef Schell he founded the biotech company Plant Genetic Systems Inc. (Belgium) in 1982, of which he was Scientific Director and member of the board of Directors. Marc Van Montagu was also involved in founding the biotech company CropDesign, of which he was a Board member from 1998 to 2004. He is the president of the European Federation of Biotechnology.
Together with his colleague Prof. Jeff Schell, Marc Van Montagu discovered 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 and to create transgenic plants. He developed plant molecular genetics, in particular 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.
He has received numerous outstanding awards for his pioneering work, including the prestigious Japan Prize. He has been a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences since 1986 and the agricultural Academy of Russia and France. He holds 6 Doctor Honoris Causa Degrees. In 1990 he was granted the title of Baron by Baudouin of Belgium.
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[edit] References
- Schell J, Van Montagu M., The Ti-plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a natural vector for the introduction of nif genes in plants?, Basic Life Sci. 1977;9:159-79.
- Joos H, Timmerman B, Van Montagu M, Schell J, Genetic analysis of transfer and stabilization of Agrobacterium DNA in plant cells, EMBO J. 1983; 2(12): 2151–2160
- Van den Broeck G et al., Targeting of a foreign protein to chloroplasts by fusion to the transit peptide from the small subunit of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase, Nature, 313, 358-363, 1985
- Deblock M et al., Expression of foreign genes in regenerated plants and in their progeny, Embo J, 3, 1681-1689, 1984
- HerreraEstrella L et al., Expression of chimaeric genes transferred into plant-cells using a TI-plasmid-derived vector, Nature, 303, 209-213, 1983
[edit] External links
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