News Release

Plant biotechnology lecture March 26

March 18, 2009

Plant biotechnology is viewed as holding the key to the globe’s food, feed, and energy needs.

One of the world’s leading experts in the field, German Spangenberg from Australia, will discuss “Plant Genomics 2.0: From the Lab to the Market” at 9 a.m. March 26 in Penn State Harrisburg’s Morrison Gallery.

Dr. Spangenberg’s discussion, sponsored by Penn State Harrisburg, its School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, the Innovation Transfer Network, Freedom Energy, and KeyStone Biofuels, is free and open to the public. For information, phone 717-948-6560.

“Dr. Spangenberg’s presentation will include his experience as the founder of three companies involved in the development and successful marketing of new designer pasture grasses which have superior performance for the world’s temperate agriculture,” says host Assistant Professor of Biology Sairam V. Rudrabhatla.

“Significant progress has been made in the development and exploitation of plant biotechnologies derived from genomic discoveries,” Dr. Spangenberg says. “These will find applications in food, feed, health, bioenergy, and bioindustry and contribute to addressing challenges for global food security in a climate of change.”

Dr. Spangenberg is executive director of the BioSciences Research Division of the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, director of the Plant Biotechnology Center, and a faculty member at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

He was the recipient of the 2006 Australian Thinker of the Year Award in recognition of his world class innovations in pasture plant genomics and biotechnology and in 2007 was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.