Title:

Trait Discovery at DuPont Pioneer and Insect Control Research at DuPont Pioneer

Lecturer：

Tom Greene, Ph.D. and Wu Gusui, Ph.D.

Time:

Oct 10th, 2016, 9:30

Venue:

Room A216, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology. Zijingang Campus

Biography：

Tom Greene, Ph.D., is the senior research director for Trait Discovery & Optimization (TDO) at DuPont Pioneer. In this role, Tom has functional leadership responsibility for a group of scientists whose mission is to deliver innovative trait solutions that meet product specifications and drive differential advantage in the marketplace for the customer. Specifically, the group is responsible for developing and implementing discovery strategies, validating trait efficacy, optimizing traits and building phenotyping strategies to support trait discovery and development across native, transgenic, genome edited and biologicals based approaches. The targeted trait areas of focus include insect control, soy output, agronomic traits, disease and hybrid systems across Pioneer’s core crops.

Tom joined Pioneer following 11.5 years with Dow AgroSciences (DAS) in Indiana where he most recently served as global leader, Trait Genetics Technologies, a role that included leadership of their molecular marker laboratory and their native traits research. In this lead role for DAS, Tom managed a large group of scientists in support of a diverse portfolio of projects critical for the development and delivery of key transgenic and germplasm based products.

Tom earned his Ph.D. in plant physiology from Washington State University and his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from North Carolina State University. He completed his post-doctoral training at the University of Florida in maize biochemical genetics.

Wu Gusui, Ph.D.: At DuPont Pioneer, Wu Gusui is the senior research director of the Plant Protection group. In this role, Gusui leads foundational discovery activities of platforms primarily focusing on insect control.

Gusui joined DuPont Pioneer in 2004 and has held the roles of Research Coordinator and Research Director overseeing trait discovery research of insect control and disease resistance. Gusui began his agricultural biotechnology career in 1993. Prior to joining DuPont Pioneer, he worked at Maxygen for 5 years on gene shuffling technology and its applications in insect control and disease resistance proteins. Before Maxygen, Gusui was at Monsanto for 6 years and worked on trait discovery for disease resistance, insect control, trait development for herbicide tolerance and enabling technology development.

Gusui earned his Ph.D. in plant biology from the University of Maryland, his master’s in plant pathology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his bachelor’s from Northwestern University in Xi’an, China.