Ian S. Curtis
My first SIVB meeting was in 2009. In that year, I attended the student career program focused on passing on my experiences as a scientist to the up and coming young scientists who are willing to make plant biotechnology a future career. In 2010 and 2011, I was a judge for the student oral presentations. In 2013, I was speaker and co-convener for the session ‘In Vitro Culture and Micropropagation’. SIVB is an organization which brings together the finest plant cell culturists and transformationists from within the USA and beyond. It is a great way of discussing current problems, identifying current achievements and passing on experiences to help develop the next generation of young scientists. Combining both plant and animal cell scientists together into one meeting allows important cross-talking and improves depth of knowledge in our respective fields. I enjoy continuing to help the society in anyway necessary.
My ability to work with plants started at the age of 17 when I successfully exhibited flowers and vegetables at local shows in the county of Lancashire, UK. By the age of 19, I achieved top prizes at county, society and national championships in 1985. I received a B. Sc. (Hons) in Agricultural Botany from University College of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1989 and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Plant Biotechnology from University of Leicester in 1990. During my post-graduate training I received the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) bronze medal for my work on the micropropagation and tissue culture of commercial lily. In 1990, I was awarded a Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Feed (MAFF) scholarship to undertake a M. Sc. in Agricultural Biotechnology at University of Newcastle Upon-Tyne. After receiving my M. Sc. the following year, I undertook a Ph. D. in Life Science at University of Nottingham under the guidance of Dr. Mike Davey and Dr. Brian Power. My achievements during that time included developing the genotype-independent transformation system in lettuce and the generation of a wealth of novel germplasms in lettuce expressing agronomical useful genes acquired from a European consortium. In 1995, I continued to work at Nottingham as a post-doctorate for a MAFF-funded project entitled ‘Inducing dwarfism in ornamental plants by genetic manipulation’. During this time, I worked on developing transformation systems on a huge range of plants including monocots, woody plants and many dicotyledonous species in this project and especially through my supervisory and practical demonstrating roles for the M. Sc. course in ‘Plant Biotechnology’.
In 1999, I was appointed Assistant Professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea, to work on developing a gene transfer system for radish. In 2001, I worked on developing the first gene transfer system for this important root crop and developed a late-flowering radish by down-regulating the photoperiodic responsive gene, GIGANTEA (GI). In 2001, I was awarded a RIKEN Fellow by the RIKEN Institute, Japan, to continue my work on modifying plant architecture by genetic engineering through the use of inducible-promoters linked to genes involved in gibberellin (GA) metabolism. In 2003, I moved to the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS), Tsukuba, Japan, as Associate Professor to work on the production of high yielding dwarf rice by modifying GA catabolism and develop a gene transfer system for Japanese soybean varieties. In 2004, I was invited to work as an editor for the book ‘Transgenic Crops of the World – Essential Protocols’ which greatly expanded my network in the field of transformation, globally.
In 2005, I returned to the UK to work as a manager of a transformation core facility at the University of Leeds. I managed this center as a profit-making facility for the production of transgenic plants for academics and working closely with health and safety issues associated with the maintenance of genetically modified plants through government bodies such as Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
In 2008, I moved to AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University Systems, Weslaco, USA, to work on projects focused on major agricultural diseases of the US including citrus greening disease on sweet orange and grapefruit, zebra chip disease in potato and develop a gene transfer system for western shipper melon. I helped in acquiring several grants, writing several patents and publishing several publications on these diverse species of plants. In 2011, I moved into my current role as Cereal Transformation Scientist at Chromatin Inc., to develop an efficient, reliable and reproducible gene transfer system for all types of sorghum for the generation of biofuel products. I worked on the development of a system which has allowed single gene traits and whole foreign biosynthetic pathways to be incorporated and expressed in this recalcitrant plant as well as the generation of several invention disclosures.
