RESEARCH
College Receives Grant for Biotechnology-based Economic Development
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences received an $890,000 grant from the Virginia Tobacco Commission to create an Innovation Center for Biotechnology-based Economic Development. Through this center, the college hopes to help boost Southside Virginia's economy by developing new bio-based products and providing work-force training.
The center will be part of the Institute for Sustainable Renewable Resources (ISRR) at the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR) in Danville, Va. Craig Nessler, director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station and associate dean for research, and Jerzy Nowak, head of the Department of Horticulture and interim director of research and technology development and transfer for IALR, are the project leaders.
"The research conducted at this center will not only provide the foundation for the development of new bio-based products, but will also train workers in the skills needed to attract other biotech research and industry to the area," said Nessler.
The center will provide technology to rapidly analyze a plant or microbe's genetic information. For example, researchers will be looking at important strawberry characteristics such as flavor, fragrance, and disease resistance and determine the genetic information that results in the desirable traits. Using genomics, the traits will be enhanced or transferred to hardier plants and coupled with a plant-breeding program to develop a strawberry plant that can grow in Southside Virginia. "These value-added strawberries could provide an alternative to tobacco production," said Nowak.
According to Nowak, the kinds of research that will be carried out will complement the research currently being conducted at ISRR in high-value horticulture and forestry.
The center will operate on a cost-recovery basis, providing stateof- the-art plant and microbe genetic transformation capabilities to the commercial research community and conduct contractual research on the production of high-value pharmaceuticals and other plant- or microbe-derived chemicals as feedstocks for industrial use.
Raymond Geor Named Paul Mellon Distinguished Professor of Agriculture
Raymond J. Geor, professor of animal and poultry sciences, has been appointed to the Paul Mellon Distinguished Chair of Agriculture. The position is based at the Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension (MARE) Center in Middleburg, Va. Prior to his arrival at Virginia Tech, Geor was an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
"We are very pleased and fortunate to have Dr. Geor move into this position. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge and experience in equine nutrition, internal medicine, and exercise science," said Dean Sharron Quisenberry. "His research and teaching experience will help enrich the training of our students and strengthen ties to the Virginia equine industry." Geor succeeds David Kronfeld, professor emeritus of animal and poultry sciences, who served as the Mellon Professor for the past 17 years.
"David Kronfeld and his graduate students have been incredibly productive over the past 17 years, setting the MARE Center and Virginia Tech at the forefront of equine nutritional science," noted Geor. "Clearly, the vision of Paul Mellon in developing the center's missions and investing in its development has been crucial to its success. I am committed to this vision and to the furthering of the center's reputation for excellence in developing new knowledge that enhances the health, productivity, and welfare of horses."
Geor's research focuses on equine nutrition and exercise science with an emphasis on nutritional effects on muscle function and athletic performance and the links between diet and disease and the mitigation of such risks via dietary intervention.
Geor is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine, received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University, a master's degree from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and a BVMS from Massey University in New Zealand.