"Plant biotechnology and sustainable food production: myths, realities and expectations"
SPEAKERS: Dr. Antonio Molina Fernández
Antonio Molina Fernández (Blanca, Murcia) has a degree in Biological Sciences from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and a PhD in Biological Sciences from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). He did his Doctoral Thesis at the Higher Technical School of Agricultural Engineers of the UPM (currently ETSIAAB) under the direction of Dr. Francisco García-Olmedo, a pioneer of Plant Biotechnology in Spain. He has been a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. John Ryals at the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Unit (ABRU) of the Syngenta company, located in Research Triangle Park (RTP, North Carolina, USA). Antonio Molina is currently Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Department of Biotechnology-Plant Biology at UPM (http://www.bit.etsia.upm.es/). Since February 2016 he is Director of the Center for Plant Biotechnology and Genomics (CBGP), a joint center between UPM and the National Institute for Agricultural and Food Research and Technology (INIA) (www.cbgp.upm.es). CBGP has been recognized by the State Agency
of Research as a Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence.
Antonio Molina Fernández has been Director of the Departments of Biotechnology and Biotechnology-Plant Biology of the UPM (2012-2015), Secretary of the CBGP (2007-2011), and Coordinator of the Doctoral Program in Biotechnology and Genetic Resources of Plants and Microorganisms Associates of the UPM (http://www.bit.etsia.upm.es/doctorado.htm). Dr. Molina is an Expert representative of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) in the National Biosafety Commission (CNB) and Advisor to the State Research Agency. In addition, he is a member of the UPM Ethics Committee.
The research activity of Dr. Molina's group at the CBGP focuses on the study of Plant Immunity and its applications to crop protection (http://www.cbgp.upm.es/plant_innate.php). His group has contributed significantly to the characterization of new mechanisms of plant immunity, and also to the determination of their functions in plant resistance to necrotrophic fungi, a field in which the group is considered an international reference. In recent years, his research group has begun the study and characterization of the role of the plant cell wall in the regulation of plant innate immunity and resistance to different types of stress (biotic and abiotic).
Dr. Antonio Molina has developed an intense activity of innovation and technology transfer of Plant Biotechnology in collaboration with national and international companies. Antonio Molina is co-founder of PlantResponse Biotech SL (PRB) and currently Chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board. Since its foundation, PRB has raised €550.000 in Seed Capital and €15 million in Series A and B investment led by international/national Venture Capital. PlantResponse Biotech currently has offices in Madrid, Murcia and Research Triangle Park (North Carolina, USA). In 2016 PlantResponse Biotech received the ErupaBio award for the best innovative European SME in Green Biotechnology, being the first Spanish biotech company to obtain this recognition in the field of biotechnology, and the first European to receive the award in the area of biotechnology. green.
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