Agrochemical, Ag-Biotech, Transgenic Crops, Herbicides (including mycoherbicides), Microalgae, Duckweed

Jonathan Gressel received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has since been at the Weizmann Institute of Science, now as an emeritus professor. He also co-founded and was for three years Chief Scientist of TransAlgae, Ltd., a company devoted to transgenically domesticating microalgae as a source of high protein animal feed and biofuel, cultivated using seawater and industrial carbon dioxide. Dr. Gressel is involved in determining how plant sciences can contribute to the world bioeconomy, especially in the areas of food security, and has had collaborations throughout the world.  He studied metabolic controls, especially by anti-metabolites and pesticides, and the evolution of resistance.  He conceived and helped develop a system to control parasitic Striga (witchweed) using herbicide-treated crop seeds, which are commercialized throughout Africa. He has developed genetic engineering biosafety measures to mitigate the transgene movement. Due to his interest in turning basic research into applications, he has had long-term consultancies for multinational agrochemical producers as well as with Israeli ag-biotech companies, and served on project evaluation panels for the NSF, EU, BARD, as well as performs project evaluation for two VCs,

He has authored >325 scientific papers and book chapters and is the author or editor of nine books dealing with these issues.  His latest authored book is “Genetic Glass Ceilings – Transgenics for Crop Biodiversity” (Johns Hopkins Press).  He has received an honorary fellowship in major professional societies based on his research and was awarded the 2010 “Israel Prize” the highest accolade given by the Israeli Government for his Agricultural Research. Contact Jonathan.