Eugene W. Nester
University of Washington
|
Primary Section: 62, Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences Secondary Section: 44, Microbial Biology Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1994)
|
Biosketch
Eugene Nester is a Professor Emeritus of Microbiology at the University of Washington where he has spent his entire scientific career. He graduated with a BS degree from Cornell University and a Ph.D from Case Western Reserve University under the mentorship of Dr. John Spizizen. His Post-Doctoral training was conducted in the Department of Genetics, Stanford University under the guidance of Dr. Joshua Lederberg.He then went to the University of Washington, Department of Microbiology where he rose through the ranks from Instructor to Chairman of the Department. His numerous awards include election to the National Academy of Science, the AAAS and the American Academy of Microbiology, where he served as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Other honors include the Australia Prize and the Biotechnology Award of the American Society of Microbiology. He has served on numerous review panels, including NIH, NSF, and most recently, the Ford Foundation.
Research Interests
My research is concerned with the interaction of bacteria with plants, and more specifically, the interaction of Agrobacterium with its wide variety of host plants. Agrobacterium, the cause of crown gall tumors, genetically engineers plants by transferring a piece of its tumor inducing plasmid into the host plant where the bacterial DNA is integrated into the plant cell chromosome and expressed. The expression of the bacterial genes confers new properties on the transformed cells. These properties are stably inherited in subsequent generations. We are attempting to unravel various aspects of this unique prokaryotic-eukaryotic interaction. Specifically, we are attempting to understand, in molecular terms, the mechanism by which Agrobacterium recognizes plant signals and then activates a set of genes which are involved in the transfer of DNA. Our research program is also focused on the transfer of DNA transfer both inside the bacterial as well as inside the plant cell. Since Agrobacterium is the major mechanism for genetically engineering plants, we are constantly attempting to optimize this system of gene transfer for industrial applications.
