View source for Roger N. Beachy

{{Short description|American plant biologist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox scientist
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| name              = Roger N. Beachy
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| birth_place       = [[Plain City, Ohio]], United States<ref name="NSFBio">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/staff/staff_bio.jsp?lan=rbeachy&org=NSF&from_org=|title=&#124; NSF - National Science Foundation|website=www.nsf.gov|accessdate=1 June 2023}}</ref>
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| workplaces        = [[Washington University in St. Louis]], [[Scripps Research|Scripps Research Institute]], [[Donald Danforth Plant Science Center]], [[USDA]]
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| alma_mater        = [[Goshen College]], [[Michigan State University]]
| thesis_title      = "Studies on tobacco mosaic virus using hypersensitive tobacco tissue cultures"
| thesis_url        = https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102529311
| thesis_year       = 1973
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| known_for         = Developing the first genetically engineered food crop, a virus resistant tomato.
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| awards            = Wolf Prize in Agriculture, AAAS Fellow
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| spouse            = Teresa S. Brown Beachy<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.goshen.edu/news/bulletin/01sept/beachy_roger_%2066.php|title=Alumni Highlight - Roger N. Beachy '66|accessdate=1 June 2023}}</ref>
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}}
'''Roger N. Beachy''' is an American [[biologist]] and member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] who studies plant virology. He was the founding president of the [[Donald Danforth Plant Science Center]] in St. Louis, Missouri, and the first director of the [[National Institute of Food and Agriculture]].
== Birth, family and education ==
Roger N. Beachy was born in 1944 in [[Plain City, Ohio]]. His farther was a mennonite minister who left school in the 8th grade.<ref name="PNASPodcast">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/podcasts/interviews/roger-beachy.html|title = Roger Beachy}}</ref><ref name="STLInterview">{{Cite web|url=https://www.stlmag.com/A-Conversation-With-Roger-Beachy-President-of-the-Donald-Danforth-Plant-Science-Center/|title = A Conversation with Roger Beachy, President Emeritus of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center|date = 17 February 2012}}</ref> He became interested in plant biology as a high school student at [[Bethany Christian Schools]] in [[Goshen, Indiana]]. In 1966 he completed his BA from [[Goshen College]] in Goshen, Indiana.<ref name="PNASPodcast" /> He then pursued a Ph.D. in plant pathology from [[Michigan State University]] graduating in 1973. After defending his dissertation, Beachy began a postdoc in the lab of [[Milton Zaitlin]] at the [[University of Arizona]] but he was only there for nine months when Prof. Zaitlin moved the entire research group to [[Cornell University]], where Beachy remained for another four years.<ref name="PNASPodcast" />
He is a second cousin of Stanford biologist [[Philip A. Beachy]] and historian [[Robert M. Beachy]], and is also a relative of author [[Stephen Beachy]].{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}
== Academic career ==
In 1978 Beachy was hired as an assistant professor in the Biology Department of [[Washington University in St. Louis]]. He remained at Washington University, being promoted to associate and then full professor and becoming the head of the Center for Plant Science and Biotechnology, until 1991.<ref name="USDALecture">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/northeast-area/docs/distinguished-lecture/roger-beachy/|title = Roger Beachy : USDA ARS}}</ref> From 1991 to 1998 he was the head of the Plant Biology division of [[Scripps Research|Scripps Research Institute]]. In 1999 he was recruited to be the inaugural president of the [[Donald Danforth Plant Science Center]] in [[St. Louis, MO]] as well as resuming his appointment was Washington University. He left the Danforth Center in 2009 when he was appointed as the director of the [[National Institute of Food and Agriculture]] by President Obama, a role he served in until 2011.<ref name="NSFBio"/> He also served on the Life Sciences jury for the [[Infosys Prize]] in 2009. From 2014-2020 he was a member of the [[National Science Board]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/staff/staff_list.jsp?orgId=496&subDiv=y&org=NSB&from_org=NSF|title = Terms expire May 10, 2026 () Staff &#124; NSF - National Science Foundation}}</ref>
== Research ==
Beachy is an expert in plant virology and biotechnology of plants. He established principles for the genetic engineering of plants, that make them resistant to viral diseases.
His research at [[Washington University in St. Louis]], in collaboration with Monsanto Company, led to the development of the world’s first [[Genetically modified food|genetically modified food crop]], a variety of tomato that was modified for resistance to virus disease.  He demonstrated pathogen-derived resistance in plants and produced the first disease-resistant transgenic plant. He also showed that by transferring and expressing the coat protein gene of a virus in plants ([[coat protein-mediated resistance]] - CP-MR), these transgenic plants become resistant to viral infection. His discovery of the CP-MR led to the development of virus-resistant varieties of potato, tomato, pepper, cucumber, squash, sugar beets, papaya and plum.
== Awards and honors ==
* Fellow of the [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] (1987)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aaas.org/fellows/listing|title=Elected Fellows &#124; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)|website=www.aaas.org|accessdate=1 June 2023}}</ref>
* Elected a member of the [[National Academy of Sciences]] in 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/6372.html|title = Roger N. Beachy}}</ref>
* Recipient of the 2001 [[Wolf Prize in Agriculture]] with [[James E. Womack]] "for the use of recombinant DNA technology, to revolutionize plant and animal sciences, paving the way for applications to neighboring fields".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wolffund.org.il/2018/12/10/roger-n-beachy/|title = Roger N. Beachy|date = 10 December 2018}}</ref>
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/CC/beachy.html Interview with Roger Beachy]
*[https://www.ibiology.org/plant-biology/plant-virus/ Roger Beachy's Seminar: "Plant Viruses and Crops"]
{{Wolf Prize in Agriculture}}
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:21st-century American biologists]]
[[Category:Michigan State University alumni]]
[[Category:Washington University in St. Louis faculty]]
[[Category:Scripps Research faculty]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Foreign fellows of the Indian National Science Academy]]
[[Category:Wolf Prize in Agriculture laureates]]