Prof. Marc Van Montagu
Priorities for Agricultural Biotechnology
President of the European Federation of Biotechnology
Ghent University, Belgium
Prof. Marc Van Montagu is the Chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology for Developing Countries (IPBO) of Ghent University (www.ipbo.UGent.be), and the president of the European Federation of Biotechnology (www.efb-central.org). He is known for his discovery of the gene transfer mechanism (together with his colleague Prof. Jozef Schell) between Agrobacterium tumefaciens and plants, and for the development of methods to alter Agrobacterium into an efficient delivery system for plant genetic engineering. This mechanism is now used worldwide for producing genetically engineered crops. He is also one of the pioneers of the construction of the first plants producing the Bt (Bacillus thuringensis) insecticide, and the construction of the first herbicide tolerant plants.
Prof. Marc Van Montagu was full-professor and director of the Laboratory of Genetics at the Faculty of Sciences, Ghent University, and scientific director of the Genetics Department of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). He was part-time professor at the Free University of Brussels (VUB) for the courses cell biology, nucleic acid chemistry, and virology. He was Scientific Director and member of the board of Directors of Plant Genetic Systems Inc. (Belgium).
Prof. Marc Van Montagu has received numerous outstanding awards for his pioneering work, such as the 1987 Rank Prize for Nutrition (UK), 1988 IBM Europe Science and Technology Prize (France), 1990 Prix Charles Leopold Mayer of the Academies de Sciences (Academy of Sciences France), 1990 Dr. A. de Leeuw-Damry-Bourlart Prize, the prestigious 1998 Japan Prize for Biotechnology in Agriculture Sciences (Japan) and the 1999 Theodor Bücher Medal (FEBS).
Prof. Marc Van Montagu is foreign associate of the Agricultural Academy of Russia and France, as well as the National Academy of Science (USA) since 1986, the Academy of Engineering of Sweden and the Italian Academy of Sciences dei XL. He is also associate of the Belgian Royal Flemish Academy of Sciences and Arts and the Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences. He holds 6 Doctor Honoris Causa degrees. In 1990 he was granted the title of "Baron" by Baudouin I, King of Belgium.
Prof. Marc Van Montagu is also President of the Public Research & Regulatory Initiative (PRRI), Delft,Holland and Brussels Belgium (www.pubresreg.org).
Updated on November 1, 2007