New plant science center to tackle global hunger

Washington University and four other institutions have joined in an innovative partnership to develop a cutting-edge plant science center in St. Louis whose mission will be to lead the world in finding solutions to global hunger, disease and environmental degradation.

"As we stand on the brink of a new millennium," former President Jimmy Carter said at a July 31 ceremony announcing plans for the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, "there is no greater challenge ahead than to feed the world's population and to ensure the health of our children and to accomplish that without further degradation of the earth that sustains us."

The center envisions the Midwest's agricultural heartland as a "bio belt," the Silicon Valley of emerging agriculture technologies needed to feed the world's growing population. Within a 500-mile radius of St. Louis lies the world's most fertile cropland, accounting for 75 percent of American farm production. Together with a planned small-business incubator, the Danforth Center will become the focal point for the region's growing cluster of biotech endeavors.

"The Danforth Center provides for the St. Louis region an opportunity for world leadership in an area of science that is rich in potential applications," said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton at the July 31 ceremony. "There is a large set of favorable outcomes for society stemming from advances in plant science, including dramatically enhanced crop production, high performance materials, nutriceuticals and medicines. Bringing to our region a large, excellent research effort in plant science will encourage young, imaginative people and great faculty to come here to pursue these benefits."

St. Louis' Danforth Foundation has pledged $60 million to the new center in one of the largest gifts ever made to support scientific research on plants. Three other Missouri institutions -- Missouri Botanical Garden, Monsanto Co. and the University of Missouri-Columbia -- and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are partners with Washington University in the endeavor.

Roger N. Beachy, Ph.D., one of the world's foremost plant scientists, has been named center director, according to William H. Danforth, chairman of the center's board and of the University's Board of Trustees. Beachy, internationally known for his work on virus-resistant plants, has headed the Division of Plant Biology at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif., since 1991. He also is co-director of the International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology.

Beachy was a member of Washington University's Department of Biology in Arts and Sciences from l978 to 1991 and headed up the Center for Plant Science and Biotechnology here. He earned a bachelor's degree from Goshen (Ind.) College and holds a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Michigan State University.

"We're lucky to have him," Danforth said. "He's a first-rate scientist. And he has a commitment to the center's world mission and the energetic leadership style that we were looking for."

Ralph S. Quatrano, Ph.D., newly appointed chair of biology and the Spencer T. Olin Professor in Arts and Sciences, also expressed enthusiasm for Beachy's appointment and the work of the new center. "One of the prime factors in my move to Washington University from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill," he said, "was not only the strength and commitment in plant sciences at Washington University but the creation of this plant science center in St. Louis.

"The recruitment of Roger Beachy to head the center makes the dream of St. Louis being a world center for plant science a reality. This is an exciting time for plant science worldwide, and there will be much happening in the next millennium."

The plant science center's purpose is to advance improvements in human health and nutrition and in global sustainability through innovative efforts to increase understanding of basic plant science.

The center also will promote the practical application of new knowledge by fostering rapid development and commercialization of new technologies and products. It will contribute as well to the education and training of graduate and post-doctoral students, scientists and technicians from around the world.

In his keynote address, Carter observed that few people in the developed world consider food security a problem. But, he continued, world population growth has been outpacing increases in global food production. Unless scientific advances are developed to grow more food efficiently and with less environmental damage, experts predict that food shortages and environmental destruction will become widespread in the next century, threatening peace and economic well-being throughout the world.

Citing alarming statistics about population growth, increased food consumption, aquifer depletion, rainforest destruction and the loss of no fewer than 25 billion tons of topsoil each year, Carter said: "I congratulate the founders of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center for their vision and commitment to helping the world find new answers to these critical, age-old problems."

The staff of the new center is expected eventually to exceed 100 persons, including 15 principal investigators who will head up multi-disciplinary laboratory projects in a state-of-the-art facility in St. Louis County, near the intersection of Olive Street and Warson roads. When completed in the year 2000, the center's facilities will include laboratories, greenhouses, a library, seminar and meeting facilities and offices. The center's board is currently soliciting bids from architectural firms with the intention of selecting an architect by early fall.

Monsanto donated the land, 40.3 acres valued at $11.4 million. The Monsanto Fund has given $40 million to the project and pledged $30 million more in addition to the land. The State of Missouri has awarded $25 million in tax credits. Research grants and endowments will fund future operations.

The five founding partner institutions bring world-class strengths to the center.

• The Missouri Botanical Garden is one of the world's leading botanical research institutes, with extensive programs in Latin America, Africa, China, and North America, and it has outstanding informatics capabilities in plant research.

• The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in its College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, has an excellent integrated system that spans basic research to delivery of research benefits to growers.

• The University of Missouri-Columbia has a strong College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources with field operations throughout the state of Missouri and connections throughout the world, plus an outstanding group of life scientists whose work emphasizes the plant sciences.

• Washington University has world-class strengths in genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, computer science and physiology and historical pre-eminence in the plant sciences.

• Augmenting the work of these four not-for-profit institutions is Monsanto, which has transformed itself into a life sciences company that applies biological principles to the sustainable production of nutritional foods, medicines and other plant-based products important to the future of the world. No corporation in the world has a stronger group of plant scientists than Monsanto.