Gene Edited Plants: Context and Communication for Plant Breeding Innovation

Dr. Yong Pyo Lim

Dr. Yong Pyo Lim got his Ph.D. at University of Rhode Island, USA and later joined Yale University as a postdoc. In 1992, he was offered a professorship at the Department of Horticulture, Chungnam National University, where he started to research the genomics of Chinese cabbage, coordinating genetics and breeding studies, as it is the second most valuable crop with a long agricultural history in Korea. With minimal biotechnology facilities, he developed world class resources for the genome sequencing project, such as BAC library, standard genetic mapping, etc. of Chinese cabbage.

Dr. Lim has continued to research Chinese cabbage with modern genomic technologies. He started the Multinational Brassica Genomics Project (MBGP) in 2003 with collaborating scientists from Australia, Canada, China, UK, and USA. He chaired the MBGP for several consecutive years to achieve the whole genome sequencing. In 2011, draft genome of Brassica rapa was published in Nature Genetics with the help of Next Generation Sequencing technologies and was introduced as a model genome sequence for the genus Brassica. He has published over 290 peer reviewed research articles and authored 14 books about Brassica genetics and genomics. Another one of his achievements is the collection of over 6,000 Brassica germplasms from around the world, which is supposed to be one of the largest germplasm collections of Brassica. He has supported germplasms with renowned scientists and companies around the world for conducting their research to improve Brassica varities. These efforts paved way for him to serve as the director of Golden Seed Project (GSP) Vegetable Seed Center to boost the vegetable seed industry in Korea.

Dr. Allen Van Deynze

Director

Dr. Allen Van Deynze is the Director of the Seed Biotechnology Center and Associate Director of the Plant Breeding Center at University of California, Davis. He has a Ph.D. in plant breeding from University of Guelph, Canada. As part of the SBC’s mission to serve as a liaison between public institutions and seed industry, Allen is responsible for developing, coordinating, and conducting research and generating and disseminating scientific and informational content for the Seed Biotechnology Center’s and Plant Breeding Center’s educational and outreach programs. His research focuses on developing and integrating genomics into plant breeding of California and African crops. He has programs on breeding for biotic and abiotic stress and quality in pepper and spinach, and development and application of genomics in crops. He co-developed and is organizer/instructor for the Plant Breeding Academysm  and professional classes in plant breeding and genomics. He is the past chair of the US Plant Breeding Coordinating Committee and has been directly involved in International and National policy including US Regulations for Biotechnology and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. He is an instructor for the African Plant Breeding Academy and Scientific Director for the African Orphan Crops Consortium, and he was an advisor to the founding of the African Plant Breeders Association.

Dr. Chee Hark Harn

Director

Dr. Chee Hark Harn is Director of the Seed R&BD Headquarter at ToolGen Inc. Since 2018, ToolGen Inc. has been developing new genetic resources and seeds using CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Dr. Harn majored in Biology at Chung-Ang University, Korea, and he moved to the USA for his M.S. (OSU, Oregon) and Ph.D. (Rutgers Univ., New Jersey). As a graduate student, he built up his science background in Genetics, Biochemistry, and Plant Molecular Biology. For his postdoc training, he worked on Plant Biotechnology, focusing on starch and sucrose biosynthesis’s metabolic engineering. He went back to Korea in 1996 and worked at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) as a research scientist for three years. He then moved to Nongwoo Bio Co., a seed company, serving as a project leader, a Biotechnology Institute director, and a director of the R&D Headquarter.

Dr. Harn has served in several Universities, as an Adjunct Professor, and Academic Societies, as a president (Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology and Korean Society for Horticultural Science), during the last 20 years. He has also served as a committee member of many government-organized meetings, including the National Science & Technology Council, Korea.

Dr. Peter Thygessen

Principal Regulatory Scientist

Dr. Peter Thygesen works in Australia’s Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) in the role of Principal Regulatory Scientist. OGTR regulates work with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), including for environmental releases. In his current role, he provides support to the office, especially in relation to risk analysis, and he is interested in the implications of new technologies and other biological assessment frameworks for GMO risk analysis. His early work at OGTR included evaluating applications for environmental release of GM plants, and he also has experience with legal and regulatory policy issues for GMOs. He has been active in OGTR’s international engagement, in particular in the OECD Working Party on the Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology (WPHROB). He took on the role of Chair of WPHROB in 2021. His academic background is in microbial and plant molecular biology at the Australian National University (B.Sc. Hons., Ph.D.) and CSIRO.

Dr. Hans Bergmans (Retired)

Dr. Hans Bergmans was trained as a molecular biologist and has a Ph.D. in bacterial genetics (1976). He was active as an associate professor in molecular cell biology at Utrecht University until 1990, when he became Secretary of the Advisory Commission on Genetic Modification in the Netherlands. In 1999, he became Senior Risk Assessor at the GMO Office of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, until his retirement in 2013. Since 1990, he has been active as a scientific advisor in drafting GMO regulations in the Netherlands. He has participated in the OECD Working Group on the Harmonization of Regulatory Oversight in Biotechnology and was Chair of its Subcommittee on Micro-organisms. He was a delegate to the COP-MOP meetings of the Biosafety Protocol and was a member of its Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group on Risk Assessment and Risk Management. He has also been active in the drafting of the GMO amendment for the Aarhus Convention on Public Participation in Environmental Matters. Since his retirement, he has (co-)authored several reports and papers on GMO risk assessment and on the EU GMO Regulations. He is a member of PRRI, the Public Research and Regulation Initiative.

Dr. Yong-Sam Kim

Associate Director

Dr. Yong-Sam Kim is a principal investigator working for the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB). He is also the director of Genome Editing Research Center in KRIBB. He holds B.A., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from the Seoul National University, majoring in Agricultural Chemistry. He earned a Ph.D. degree with a thesis on an auxin binding protein. He was a research associate for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2011. Currently, his main research interests include the development of a novel genome editing technology and improvement of CRISPR technologies. His major achievement is the development of  highly efficient CRISPR-Cpf1 and CRISPR-Cas12f systems through the engineering of CRISPR RNA. The engineered CRISPR-Cpf1 shows genome editing efficiency that surpasses that of CRISPR-Cas9 system. The highly efficient CRISPR systems are expected to harness genome editing-based gene therapy and the development of various plant varieties. He is also seeking to apply genome editing tools to facilitate the development of cancer-specific biomarkers by genome-engineering model animals. He is the CEO of GenKOre in Korea.