Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom - TAIR

Keynote Speakers
Professor David Baulcombe
David Baulcombe has wide interests in plant molecular biology. Currently
he works on RNA-silencing systems that protect against viruses and mobile
elements of DNA. His group has identified many components of the RNA
silencing machinery and a key discovery was the short RNAs that are the
specificity determinant. The recent work in David’s group embraces a
systems level analysis of RNA silencing and its influences – direct or indirect
– on gene expression. Most of his work involves Arabidopsis but he has
started to explore the role of RNA silencing in a crop plant (tomato) and in
a unicellular alga (Chlamydomonas). David also has interests in disease
resistance and he is a member of a consortium investigating ways to
mitigate the effects of a sweet potato virus disease.
Until August 2007 David was a senior research scientist in the Sainsbury
Laboratory, Norwich. He then became the Professor of Botany at Cambridge
University and Royal Society Research Professor. He is a Fellow of the
Royal Society and a foreign associate member of the US National Academy
of Sciences. His awards include the 2008 Lasker Award and the 2006 Royal
Medal of the Royal Society. Extramural activities include membership of the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and chairing a
Royal Society Policy study on the contribution of biological science to food
crop productivity.
Professor Wayne Powell
Professor Wayne Powell has more than 25 years’ experience working in the
field of contemporary plant genetics. Before being appointed as Director of
IBERS at the University of Aberystwyth, he was Director and CEO of NIAB
in Cambridge. Previously he was Professor and Foundation Head of the
School of Agriculture and Wine, University of Adelaide, Australia. He was
Deputy Director of the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), Dundee,
UK, from 2000-2004 and was responsible for leading and facilitating the
development of the Institute’s scientific vision, with overall responsibility for
the Institute’s research programmes. Between 1998 and 2000 Professor
Powell worked at the Du Pont Company in Wilmington, Delaware, USA,
where he gained exposure and experience of operating in a global private
sector organisation. Professor Powell’s personal research interests are at
the interface of plant genetics, genome science, plant breeding and
conservation of genetic resources with a strong emphasis on the delivery of
‘public good’ outcomes.
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