Published in Probe Volume 2(1): Spring 1992
Dr. George Jen is the new Plant Genome Program Director for the National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program. The position is in USDA's Cooperative State Research Service, Office of Grants and Program Systems. Dr. Jen provides leadership and direction in awarding competitive grants to U.S. scientists for plant genome research projects.
Dr. Jen's background includes broad experience in biotechnology, and training in the areas of molecular biology, virology, and bacterial genetics.
Before coming to USDA in February, Dr. Jen held the position of senior scientist at CIBA-Geigy's Agricultural Biotechnology Research Unit in North Carolina. From 1985 to 1991, he worked on new strategies and methods for plant gene expression and transformation; studied the nuclear uptake of DNA in animal and plant cells; determined the fine-structure of insert DNA in transgenic plants; developed an Arabidopsis molecular genetics program; and implemented a genetic-engineering program for developing herbicide-resistant plants.
Prior to graduate school, Dr. Jen was a senior research associate with the Cetus Corporation in Berkeley, California.There he studied the biochemistry and physiology of antibiotic biosynthesis in Actinomyces.
Dr. Jen holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. His studies dealt with translational regulation in virus-infected animal cells. Dr. Jen also completed post-graduate work there as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, from 1982-1985, in the laboratory of Dr. Mary-Dell Chilton. His research included the study of the Agrobacterium tumefacien transformation of plant cells. Dr. Jen completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California-Berkeley, where he majored in biochemistry and bacteriology.
He has authored and coauthored numerous articles for scientific journals and proceedings, and has served as a reviewer of various publications.