Richard Anthony Jefferson

Last updated

Richard Jefferson
Richard A Jefferson.jpg
Richard Jefferson, 2010
Born
Richard Anthony Jefferson

1956
Santa Cruz, California
CitizenshipUnited States of America; Australia
Alma mater
Known for
Awards Scientific American 50 website = www.cambia.org
Scientific career
Institutions
Thesis DNA Transformation of Caenorhabditis elegans Development and Application of a New Gene Fusion System (Cloning, Chimeric, Sequence)  (1985)
Doctoral advisor David I. Hirsh, William B. Wood

Richard Anthony Jefferson (born 1956) is an American-born molecular biologist and social entrepreneur who developed the widely used reporter gene system GUS, [3] conducted the world's first biotech crop release, proposed the Hologenome theory of evolution, pioneered Biological Open Source and founded The Lens. He is founder of the social enterprise Cambia and a professor of Biological Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology. In 2003 he was named by Scientific American as one of the world's 50 most influential technologists, and is renowned for his work on making science-enabled innovation more widely accessible. [4] [5] He was profiled in 'Open & Shut: The Basement Interviews', [6] and other major media, including in an Economist Feature 'Grassroots Innovator' in 2001. [7]

Contents

Education

Born in Santa Cruz, California, Jefferson studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara at the College of Creative Studies, and obtained his BA (Molecular Genetics) in 1978. He then moved to the University of Colorado Boulder for his Ph.D., where he first developed the GUS reporter system, isolating, sequencing and characterizing the first microbial glucuronidase, [3] [8] and creating transgenic technology for Caenorhabditis elegans [9]

Career

As a postdoctoral researcher he worked at the Plant Breeding Institute in Cambridge, England: there he adapted the GUS assay for the use in plants. [3] His GUS system was a breakthrough in plant molecular sciences, useful for the development of efficient transformation methods for crop plants, and cell and developmental biology. In 1986-87 he sent all the components of the GUS system (DNA and strains) together with a comprehensive users' manual to nearly a thousand labs worldwide, before publication, pioneering a biological open source paradigm and a rapid uptake of the technology. The GUS system and its novel mode of dissemination was said to be essential for development of transformation of the most important crops, including soybean, maize, cotton and rice. The work has been cited in the primary literature almost 15,000 times., [10] and has been licensed by every major company in crop genetics.

During his postdoc in Cambridge, he also initiated and managed, with his colleague Michael W. Bevan, the world's first field release of a transgenic food crop (June 1, 1987), in Trumpington, near Cambridge, UK. [11] [12] The planting date of the experiment was serendipitously one day before that of Monsanto, in Jerseyville, Illinois, which has been widely but incorrectly viewed as the first such trial. [13] [14]

In 1989, driven by a need to see the tools of science more broadly accessible and more effectively used in complex environments, Jefferson joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as senior scientist, the first molecular biologist in this position. Since then he traveled, worked and taught in many developing countries. He left the organization in 1991 to start a non-profit private social enterprise, Cambia. Cambia soon moved to Australia, due to Jefferson's involvement in the Asian rice biotechnology programs of the Rockefeller Foundation, [11] and the proximity to almost half the world's agricultural population.

In September 1994, Jefferson first articulated the Hologenome Theory of Evolution, at a presentation at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, at a Symposium "A Decade of PCR" [15] This theory was developed from his molecular and genetic work on glucuronide metabolism by vertebrate-associated microbes, including the role of glucuronidases, sulfatases and other enzymes in modulating and effecting enterohepatic circulation of steroid hormones. The levels, ratios and timing of steroid hormone de-conjugation (activation) and resorption modulates virtually all aspects of vertebrate ontogeny, physiology and reproduction. The premise for his theory was that natural selection acts on the holobiont comprising a 'scaffold genome' and myriad microbial constituents in diverse ecosystems, selecting for persistence of the set of genetically encoded capabilities.

In January 1997, the hologenome theory was extended, informed by further work on the molecular genetics of enteric microbial glucuronide metabolism, to emphasize the central role of microbially-mediated hormone modulation (MHM) as an essential component of multi-cellularity and vertebrate biology. This led Jefferson to coin the term ecotherapeutics, or ecological therapeutics, stating that a major route to improved performance or health of animals or plants would be through the adjustment of microbial populations and their genetic capabilities (microbiota, often now called the microbiomes). [16]

The development of theory and its logic were also outlined in detail in his blog in 2007, [17] and summarized in a cover article Jan 9, 2013, by Carrie Arnold in New Scientist [18]

In 1999, Jefferson was appointed as Author-in-Chief to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity for the landmark study, submitted to the UN General Assembly, on the contentious genetic technology, colloquially called 'Terminator Technology'. In this study [19] he coined and defined the term GURT - Genetic Use Restriction Technology and its variants.

At Cambia, and with the initial funding and partnership with Rockefeller Foundation's agriculture program, Jefferson and the Cambia staff started to develop key new tools - including the pCambia vectors, [20] released in 1997, and which now are the most widely used plasmids in plant biotechnology.

The continuous distribution of thousands of these tools without restrictions throughout the world, the dozens of conducted training courses, and the newly invented open technologies advanced what would become the Biological Open Source initiative, formally launched in 2005. In that year Jefferson and colleagues published a landmark paper in Nature [21] in which they described a new biological open source invention, TransBacter.

Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer was by far the most common tool for agricultural biotechnology, but due to complex and extensive patenting, and aggressive pursuit of dominant patents by Monsanto, the use of the tool was constrained to merely academic pursuits or by use of multinational corporations under license. Using Patent Lens - the most popular global open full-text patent search engine - founded by Jefferson and his colleague Carol Nottenburg in 1999 as CambiaIP Resource - Cambia published the world's first open patent landscape. [22] Using the evidence and clarity obtained from this patent landscape, Jefferson and his colleagues designed and created an effective alternative technology that would not be constrained by any of the existing patents (of which there were by then almost a thousand). The technology, called Transbacter involved using three taxes of benign plant-associated bacteria modified with the gene-transfer components from Agrobacterium, to efficiently transfer genes to diverse crop species. "Transbacter" was made available under the first BiOS (Biological Open Source) license, for free to anyone and sent to hundreds of labs worldwide, and was licensed by public sector, small enterprise and multinationals under open principles, with commitments to share improvements with other licensees. The open patent landscape, initially authored by patent experts Nottenburg and Carolina Roa-Rodriguez and later updated by several other Cambia staff, in addition to many other landscapes serve as prototypes of Jefferson's subsequent initiative; open Innovation Cartography [23]

In 2009, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Lemelson Foundation and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation, Jefferson moved with part of Cambia to the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, as Professor of Science, Technology & Law, to direct the global activities on open Innovation Cartography. [24]

Known also for his expertise in intellectual property, Jefferson remains active in the promotion of open source biological innovation which has been covered extensively by global media. [25] He served on the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Intellectual Property for four years, and is on the WEF's Global Agenda Council on the Economics of Innovation. In 2013 Cambia launched The Lens [26] to replace the older Patent Lens and enable broader innovation-focused navigation platforms. Jefferson is considered a global leader in social entrepreneurship and is an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur of the Schwab Foundation, [27] and a plenary speaker at the Skoll World Forum. [28] Jefferson was also a keynote speaker at Consilience 2016, organised by National Law School of India University, Bengaluru on Intellectual Property and the Commons. [29]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetic engineering</span> Manipulation of an organisms genome

Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including the transfer of genes within and across species boundaries to produce improved or novel organisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant pathology</span> Scientific study of plant diseases

Plant pathology or phytopathology is the scientific study of plant diseases caused by pathogens and environmental conditions. Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease etiology, disease cycles, economic impact, plant disease epidemiology, plant disease resistance, how plant diseases affect humans and animals, pathosystem genetics, and management of plant diseases.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambia (non-profit organization)</span>

Cambia is an Australian-based global non-profit social enterprise focusing on open science, biology, innovation system reform and intellectual property. Its projects include The Lens, formerly known as Patent Lens, and the Biological Innovation for Open Society Initiative.

Pharming, a portmanteau of farming and pharmaceutical, refers to the use of genetic engineering to insert genes that code for useful pharmaceuticals into host animals or plants that would otherwise not express those genes, thus creating a genetically modified organism (GMO). Pharming is also known as molecular farming, molecular pharming, or biopharming.

BiOS is an international initiative to foster innovation and freedom to operate in the biological sciences. BiOS was officially launched on 10 February 2005 by Cambia, an independent, international non-profit organization dedicated to democratizing innovation. Its intention is to initiate new norms and practices for creating tools for biological innovation, using binding covenants to protect and preserve their usefulness, while allowing diverse business models for the application of these tools.

β-Glucuronidase Class of enzymes

β-Glucuronidases are members of the glycosidase family of enzymes that catalyze breakdown of complex carbohydrates. Human β-glucuronidase is a type of glucuronidase that catalyzes hydrolysis of β-D-glucuronic acid residues from the non-reducing end of mucopolysaccharides such as heparan sulfate. Human β-glucuronidase is located in the lysosome. In the gut, brush border β-glucuronidase converts conjugated bilirubin to the unconjugated form for reabsorption. β-Glucuronidase is also present in breast milk, which contributes to neonatal jaundice. The protein is encoded by the GUSB gene in humans and by the uidA gene in bacteria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetic use restriction technology</span> Methods for controlling the use of GMOs

Genetic use restriction technology (GURT), also known as terminator technology or suicide seeds, is the name given to proposed methods for restricting the use of genetically modified crops by activating some genes only in response to certain stimuli, especially to cause second generation seeds to be infertile. The development and application of GURTs is primarily an attempt by private sector agricultural breeders to increase the extent of protection on their innovations. The technology was originally developed under a cooperative research and development agreement between the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and Delta & Pine Land Company in the 1990s and is not yet commercially available.

This page provides an alphabetical list of articles and other pages about biotechnology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GUS reporter system</span> Molecular biology technique

The GUS reporter system is a reporter gene system, particularly useful in plant molecular biology and microbiology. Several kinds of GUS reporter gene assay are available, depending on the substrate used. The term GUS staining refers to the most common of these, a histochemical technique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Van Montagu</span> Belgian molecular biologist

Marc, Baron Van Montagu is a Belgian molecular biologist. He was full professor and director of the Laboratory of Genetics at the faculty of Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium) and scientific director of the genetics department of the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). Together with Jozef Schell he founded the biotech company Plant Genetic Systems Inc. (Belgium) in 1982, of which he was scientific director and member of the board of directors. Van Montagu was also involved in founding the biotech company CropDesign, of which he was a board member from 1998 to 2004. He is president of the Public Research and Regulation Initiative (PRRI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetically modified plant</span> Plants with human-introduced genes from other organisms

Genetically modified plants have been engineered for scientific research, to create new colours in plants, deliver vaccines, and to create enhanced crops. Plant genomes can be engineered by physical methods or by use of Agrobacterium for the delivery of sequences hosted in T-DNA binary vectors. Many plant cells are pluripotent, meaning that a single cell from a mature plant can be harvested and then under the right conditions form a new plant. This ability is most often taken advantage by genetic engineers through selecting cells that can successfully be transformed into an adult plant which can then be grown into multiple new plants containing transgene in every cell through a process known as tissue culture.

Patentleft is the practice of licensing patents for royalty-free use, on the condition that adopters license related improvements they develop under the same terms. Copyleft-style licensors seek "continuous growth of a universally accessible technology commons" from which they, and others, will benefit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Lens</span>

The Lens, formerly called Patent Lens, is a free searcheable online patent and scholarly literature database, provided by Cambia, an Australia-based non-profit organization. The Lens has been hailed as the “most comprehensive scholarly literature database, that exceeds in its width and depth two leading commercial databases combined”. The Lens is an agglomeration database, that takes bibliometric data from other databases and combines them into one, deduplicated and with unified search syntax. Also, unlike the competing databases, The Lens allows data exporting in JSON format with a superior granularity compared to RIS and CSV formats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plant genetics</span> Study of genes and heredity in plants

Plant genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity specifically in plants. It is generally considered a field of biology and botany, but intersects frequently with many other life sciences and is strongly linked with the study of information systems. Plant genetics is similar in many ways to animal genetics but differs in a few key areas.

The hologenome theory of evolution recasts the individual animal or plant as a community or a "holobiont" – the host plus all of its symbiotic microbes. Consequently, the collective genomes of the holobiont form a "hologenome". Holobionts and hologenomes are structural entities that replace misnomers in the context of host-microbiota symbioses such as superorganism, organ, and metagenome. Variation in the hologenome may encode phenotypic plasticity of the holobiont and can be subject to evolutionary changes caused by selection and drift, if portions of the hologenome are transmitted between generations with reasonable fidelity. One of the important outcomes of recasting the individual as a holobiont subject to evolutionary forces is that genetic variation in the hologenome can be brought about by changes in the host genome and also by changes in the microbiome, including new acquisitions of microbes, horizontal gene transfers, and changes in microbial abundance within hosts. Although there is a rich literature on binary host–microbe symbioses, the hologenome concept distinguishes itself by including the vast symbiotic complexity inherent in many multicellular hosts. For recent literature on holobionts and hologenomes published in an open access platform, see the following reference.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genetic engineering techniques</span> Methods used to change the DNA of organisms

Genetic engineering techniques allow the modification of animal and plant genomes. Techniques have been devised to insert, delete, and modify DNA at multiple levels, ranging from a specific base pair in a specific gene to entire genes. There are a number of steps that are followed before a genetically modified organism (GMO) is created. Genetic engineers must first choose what gene they wish to insert, modify, or delete. The gene must then be isolated and incorporated, along with other genetic elements, into a suitable vector. This vector is then used to insert the gene into the host genome, creating a transgenic or edited organism.

A biological patent is a patent on an invention in the field of biology that by law allows the patent holder to exclude others from making, using, selling, or importing the protected invention for a limited period of time. The scope and reach of biological patents vary among jurisdictions, and may include biological technology and products, genetically modified organisms and genetic material. The applicability of patents to substances and processes wholly or partially natural in origin is a subject of debate.

Michael Webster Bevan is a professor at the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.

Sushil Kumar was an Indian geneticist and academic, known for his Plant and microbial genetical genomics, especially the studies on Escherichia coli and Lambda phage as well as on the mutants of Rhizobium. He was a former director of the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, and Indian Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, in 1981, for his contributions to biological sciences.

Howard M. Goodman is an American molecular biologist and a professor of genetics emeritus at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is best known for his role in founding the department of molecular biology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

References

  1. ↑ Jefferson, R. A. (1987). "Assaying chimeric genes in plants: The GUS gene fusion system". Plant Molecular Biology Reporter. 5 (4): 387–405. doi:10.1007/BF02667740. S2CID   5619830.
  2. ↑ Jefferson, R. A. (1989). "The GUS reporter gene system". Nature. 342 (6251): 837–8. Bibcode:1989Natur.342..837J. doi:10.1038/342837a0. PMID   2689886. S2CID   24680810.
  3. 1 2 3 Jefferson, R. A.; Kavanagh, T. A.; Bevan, M. W. (1987). "GUS fusions: Beta-glucuronidase as a sensitive and versatile gene fusion marker in higher plants". The EMBO Journal. 6 (13): 3901–7. doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02730.x. PMC   553867 . PMID   3327686.
  4. ↑ Scientific American Website: The 2003 Scientific American 50 List of Winners Archived 13 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine , URL accessed on 30 May 2006
  5. ↑ Richard Anthony Jefferson publications indexed by Google Scholar
  6. ↑ "Open and Shut?: Interview with Richard Jefferson". 22 September 2006. Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  7. ↑ "Grassroots innovator". The Economist. 8 December 2001. Archived from the original on 8 September 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  8. ↑ Jefferson, R. A.; Burgess, S. M.; Hirsh, D. (1986). "Beta-Glucuronidase from Escherichia Coli as a Gene-Fusion Marker". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 83 (22): 8447–8451. Bibcode:1986PNAS...83.8447J. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.22.8447 . PMC   386947 . PMID   3534890.
  9. ↑ Jefferson, Richard A.; Klass, Michael; Wolf, Nurit; Hirsh, David (1987). "Expression of Chimeric Genes in Caenorhabditis Elegans". Journal of Molecular Biology. 193 (1): 41–46. doi:10.1016/0022-2836(87)90624-3. PMID   3295256.
  10. ↑ "Richard Anthony Jefferson - Google Scholar Citations". Archived from the original on 24 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  11. 1 2 Jefferson, R. (2006). "Science as Social Enterprise: The CAMBIA BiOS Initiative" (PDF). Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization. 1 (4): 13–44. doi: 10.1162/itgg.2006.1.4.13 . S2CID   57559694. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 August 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  12. ↑ Jefferson, Richard A. "New Approaches for Agricultural Molecular Biology: From Single Cells to Field Analysis." Stadler Genetics Symposia Series (1990): 365–400. doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-7047-5_20.
  13. ↑ 2001, E Simanis & S. Hart, World Resources Institute Case Study, http://pdf.wri.org/bell/case_1-56973-475-5_full_version_a_english.pdf Archived 5 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ Archives of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1988/8816/881609.PDF Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Number 6 in a series of 7 VHS recordings, 'A Decade of PCR: Celebrating 10 Years of Amplification,' released by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1994. ISBN   0-87969-473-4.
  16. ↑ Jefferson, Richard A et al.. (1997). Molecular genetics of the E. coli gus operon: Medical and evolutionary implications for glucuronide and xenobiotic metabolism. 14th Congress of the South African Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in Grahamstown, South Africa. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.22796
  17. ↑ "The Hologenome & Hologenomics: A different lens on evolution – Science as Social Enterprise". Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  18. ↑ Arnold, Carrie (2013). "The hologenome: A new view of evolution". New Scientist. 217 (2899): 30–34. Bibcode:2013NewSc.217...30A. doi:10.1016/s0262-4079(13)60115-3.
  19. ↑ https://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/sbstta/sbstta-04/official/sbstta-04-09-rev1-en.pdf Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine [ bare URL PDF ]
  20. ↑ "Why do most of the people select pCambia vectors for cloning in transgenic plants?". Archived from the original on 9 November 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  21. ↑ Broothaerts, Wim, Heidi J. Mitchell, Brian Weir, Sarah Kaines, Leon M. A. Smith, Wei Yang, Jorge E. Mayer, Carolina Roa-Rodríguez, and Richard A. Jefferson. "Gene Transfer to Plants by Diverse Species of Bacteria." Nature 433, no. 7026 (February 10, 2005): 629–633. doi:10.1038/nature03309.
  22. ↑ "Agrobacterium-mediated transformation". Archived from the original on 19 July 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  23. ↑ "A 16th-century Dutchman can tell us everything we need to know about GMO patents". 28 October 2013. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
  24. ↑ "Innovation cartography: Mapping and navigating the IP landscape - Science as Social Enterprise". Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  25. ↑ Herrera, S. (2005). "Profile: Richard Jefferson". Nature Biotechnology. 23 (6): 643. doi: 10.1038/nbt0605-643 . S2CID   40766547.
  26. ↑ "Home". lens.org. Archived from the original on 5 August 2022. Retrieved 8 August 2022.
  27. ↑ http://www.schwabfound.org/sf/SocialEntrepreneurs/Profiles/index.htm?sname=129191 [ dead link ]
  28. ↑ "Skoll1 | Skoll World Forum". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  29. ↑ "Consilience 16 | A conference on open access and IP". Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.