VP of Research and Development
Over 30 years in agbiotech as an academic Research Scientist, as a Manager for R&D, Business Development, and Operations, and as CEO. Primary areas of research, business development, and management have included:
Plant protein extraction, production, and applications: Production of film-forming corn zein protein for industrial, food, cosmetic, and pharma applications (VP Business Development at Global Protein Products, Inc), and development of a protein concentrate and isolate from a sustainable aquatic plant for food applications (SVP R&D and Product Development at Lemnature Aquafarms, Inc).
Heavy metal uptake and accumulation in plants: Research Assistant Professor at Rutgers University focusing on the uptake, biotransformation, and accumulation of heavy metals in plants. Target metals included cadmium, arsenic, lead, nickel, and select radioactive elements.
Upcycling of agricultural waste streams: Stabilization of freshly milled rice bran to prevent rancidity and the loss of nutritionally rich milling by-product. Stabilized rice bran is used as a highly nutritious and functional ingredient in the human and animal markets. (CEO, and SVP Operations and R&D at RiceBran Technologies Inc.; VP R&D at Stabil Nutrition, LLC).
Crop Genetics: Development and commercialization of major crops with value-added output traits including balanced amino acid profiles, high-quality oils, and low phytic acid. (Project Leader at Dekalb Genetics/Monsanto).
Discovery, purification, and application of bioactive phytochemicals: Screened botanical sources for bioactive compounds for use in industrial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food applications. Select compounds were further developed, manufactured, and brought to market. (Dir. of R&D at PhycoGen, Inc., and Dir. of Business Development at HerbalScience Group, LLC).
Role of protein phosphorylation in higher plants: Cloned and characterized the function of type 1 protein phosphates from maize and Arabidopsis (Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Missouri- Columbia).
