Australian genetics pioneer
recognised in global top 50
Tuesday 25 November 2003
Australian molecular
geneticist Richard Jefferson’s latest inventions could unleash a new Green
Revolution, giving farmers, researchers and agriculture businesses across the
world access to the potential of modern genetics.
The Canberra based
scientist was recognised this week by Scientific American, the prestigious
international science magazine, as one of the 50 global technology leaders of
2003. The list was published overnight. Jefferson will be honoured at a presentation on Thursday 11 December at the New
York Academy of Sciences along with Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computers, The Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation, Gro Harlem Brundtland, and other science,
engineering, commerce and public policy leaders.
Professor Richard
Jefferson and his team of scientists and IP experts at CAMBIA are creating a
powerful and freely available genetics and policy toolkit that will allow plant
breeders and scientists around the world to add new directions to conventional
plant and animal breeding.
China’s leading plant
geneticist, Professor Zhang Qifa, has already used the toolkit to create 20,000
unique rice lines in his quest for more robust, high yielding rice that uses
less water and are resistant to pests and diseases.
“We don’t always need to
insert foreign genes,” says Jefferson, “as we are yet to harness the potential
of the crop’s own genome.”
“Biotechnology is being
stifled by the complexity, expense and misuse of patenting. So we are taking a
different approach with our toolkit to ensure it’s available for all to use,”
says Jefferson.
“CAMBIA and the
Rockefeller Foundation are working together to create an ‘Open Access’
biological technology movement – just as the computing community has created
Linux and other great Open Source innovations. Our tools will be free to all and
are crafted to unleash the creativity of researchers and farmers. Companies will
have much greater opportunities to create wealth from new crops and products,
winning much-needed public trust in the process
Jefferson originally
founded CAMBIA in Canberra in 1991, to give developing countries access to the
tools of molecular biology. It soon became clear, however that many of the same
barriers to the creation and adoption of new technology in developing countries
are also hindering businesses and the research community in the developed world
– in particular the confused web of intellectual property rights which is
hurting both small and large biotechnology companies, and which has gutted the
public sector.
Today CAMBIA employs 40
scientists and is working with the FAO, The Rockefeller Foundation, the CGIAR
and many other international groups, and is affiliated with Charles Sturt
University.
“We have barely started to
unleash the potential of modern genetics to improve crops and feed the world,”
says Jefferson. “The key, ironically, is human creativity, and using technology
and wise policy to nurture the innate problem-solving capacity within all
people”
According to the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization’s annual report, “The State of Food Insecurity in the
World 2003” released today, latest estimates signal a setback in the war against
hunger.
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/24779-en.html
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