Wikipedia

Richard Anthony Jefferson

Richard Anthony Jefferson(born 1956) is an American-bornmolecular biologistandsocial entrepreneurwho developed the widely usedreporter gene system GUS,[3]conducted the world's first biotech crop release, proposed theHologenome theory of evolution,pioneeredBiological Open Sourceand foundedThe Lens.He is founder of the social enterpriseCambiaand a professor of Biological Innovation at theQueensland University of Technology.In 2003, he was named byScientific Americanas 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]

Richard Jefferson
Richard Jefferson, 2010
Richard Jefferson, 2010
Born
Richard Anthony Jefferson

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

Education

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Born inSanta Cruz,California,Jefferson studied at theUniversity of California, Santa Barbaraat theCollege of Creative Studies,and obtained his BA (Molecular Genetics) in 1978. He then moved to theUniversity of Colorado Boulderfor hisPh.D.,where he first developed the GUS reporter system, isolating, sequencing and characterizing the first microbial glucuronidase,[3][8]and creating transgenic technology forCaenorhabditis elegans[9]

Career

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As apostdoctoral researcherhe worked at thePlant Breeding InstituteinCambridge,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 inCambridge,he also initiated and managed, with his colleagueMichael W. Bevan,the world's first field release of atransgenic 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 theFood 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 manydeveloping countries.He left the organization in 1991 to start a non-profit privatesocial enterprise,Cambia.Cambia soon moved toAustralia,due to Jefferson's involvement in the Asianricebiotechnologyprograms of theRockefeller 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 atCold 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 effectingenterohepatic circulationofsteroid 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 theholobiontcomprising 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 NationsConvention on Biological Diversityfor 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 Technologyand 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 theBiological Open Sourceinitiative, formally launched in 2005. That year, Jefferson and colleagues published a landmark paper inNature,[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. UsingPatent 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, calledTransbacterinvolved using three taxes of benign plant-associated bacteria modified with the gene-transfer components fromAgrobacterium,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; openInnovation 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 theQueensland University of Technology(QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, as Professor of Science, Technology & Law, to direct the global activities on openInnovation Cartography.[24]

Known also for his expertise inintellectual property,Jefferson remains active in the promotion ofopen sourcebiological 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 olderPatent Lensand 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 byNational Law School of India University,Bengaluruon Intellectual Property and the Commons.[29]

References

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  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.S2CID5619830.
  2. ^Jefferson, R. A. (1989). "The GUS reporter gene system".Nature.342(6251): 837–8.Bibcode:1989Natur.342..837J.doi:10.1038/342837a0.PMID2689886.S2CID24680810.
  3. ^abcJefferson, 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.PMC553867.PMID3327686.
  4. ^Scientific American Website: The 2003 Scientific American 50 List of Winners[1]Archived13 October 2007 at theWayback Machine,URL accessed on 30 May 2006
  5. ^Richard Anthony Jeffersonpublications indexed byGoogle Scholar
  6. ^"Open and Shut?: Interview with Richard Jefferson".22 September 2006.Archivedfrom the original on 24 July 2015.Retrieved23 July2015.
  7. ^"Grassroots innovator".The Economist.8 December 2001.Archivedfrom the original on 8 September 2015.Retrieved6 August2015.
  8. ^Jefferson, R. A.; Burgess, S. M.; Hirsh, D. (1986)."Beta-Glucuronidase fromEscherichia Colias 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.PMC386947.PMID3534890.
  9. ^Jefferson, Richard A.; Klass, Michael; Wolf, Nurit; Hirsh, David (1987). "Expression of Chimeric Genes inCaenorhabditis Elegans".Journal of Molecular Biology.193(1): 41–46.doi:10.1016/0022-2836(87)90624-3.PMID3295256.
  10. ^"Richard Anthony Jefferson - Google Scholar Citations".Archived fromthe originalon 24 July 2015.Retrieved23 July2015.
  11. ^abJefferson, 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.S2CID57559694.Archived(PDF)from the original on 13 August 2017.Retrieved26 October2018.
  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.pdfArchived5 February 2021 at theWayback Machine
  14. ^Archives of the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA)https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1988/8816/881609.PDFArchived5 March 2016 at theWayback 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.ISBN0-87969-473-4.
  16. ^Jefferson, Richard A et al.. (1997). Molecular genetics of theE. coli gusoperon: 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 fromthe originalon 15 July 2011.Retrieved23 July2015.
  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.pdfArchived4 March 2016 at theWayback Machine[bare URL PDF]
  20. ^"Why do most of the people select pCambia vectors for cloning in transgenic plants?".Archivedfrom the original on 9 November 2015.Retrieved3 December2017.
  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 fromthe originalon 19 July 2015.Retrieved6 August2015.
  23. ^"A 16th-century Dutchman can tell us everything we need to know about GMO patents".28 October 2013.Archivedfrom the original on 7 September 2015.Retrieved7 August2015.
  24. ^"Innovation cartography: Mapping and navigating the IP landscape - Science as Social Enterprise".Archived fromthe originalon 17 March 2012.Retrieved23 July2015.
  25. ^Herrera, S. (2005)."Profile: Richard Jefferson".Nature Biotechnology.23(6): 643.doi:10.1038/nbt0605-643.S2CID40766547.
  26. ^"Home".lens.org.Archivedfrom the original on 5 August 2022.Retrieved8 August2022.
  27. ^http://www.schwabfound.org/sf/SocialEntrepreneurs/Profiles/index.htm?sname=129191[dead link‍]
  28. ^"Skoll1 | Skoll World Forum".Archivedfrom the original on 18 May 2015.Retrieved24 July2015.
  29. ^"Consilience 16 | A conference on open access and IP".Archived fromthe originalon 22 October 2016.Retrieved16 February2017.
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