Dennis Gonsalves

Dennis Gonsalves (born 1943) is an American phytopathologist.[1] He has created with his team two virus-resistant papaya cultivars called SunUp and Rainbow,[2] which rescued the papaya sector in Hawaii from the devastating effects of the papaya ringspot virus that hit in the late 1990s.[3][4][5]

Dr

Dennis Gonsalves
NationalityAmerican
EducationBSc in Horticulture
PhD in Plant Pathology
Alma materUniversity of Hawaii
University of California, Davis
Known forResearch on mechanisms of virus infection and strategies for developing plants resistant to them
AwardsHumboldt Prize
Agriculture Research Service Science Hall of Fame
Leadership in Science Public Service Award
Presidential Distinguished Rank Award
Scientific career
InfluencesDr. Eduardo Trujillo

Life

Gonsalves was born and raised on a sugar plantation in Kohala, Hawaii.[2][6] He studied horticulture (BS, 1965) and phytopathology at the University of Hawaii. His doctorate was in 1968 at the University of California, Davis. From 1972 to 1977 he worked at the University of Florida and from 1977 to 2002 at Cornell University, where he became a professor in 1995. Since 2002 he was the director of a USDA research center in Hilo and is now retired and living in Hawaii.[4][7]

Work

Gonsalves begun his research career at Cornell University working on virus-resistant plants. While on a trip back home to Hawaii, he learned from local farmers that a virus was rapidly making its way toward the Big Island’s Puna District, where the majority of the state’s papayas were grown.[8] This led to his starting a research program in 1985 that resulted in the creation of a papaya with resistance to the papaya ringspot virus. His work is recognized worldwide and has received several awards.[9][10]

His Rainbow papaya makes up about 77 percent of the Hawaii's crop.[4] Funded by USAID, he helped develop locally adapted papaya varieties for Venezuela, Jamaica, Brazil, Africa, and Bangladesh.[11][12][13]

Awards
  • 2002: Humboldt Prize[14]
  • 2003: The American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) Leadership in Science Public Service Award[15]
  • 2004: USDA Technology Transfer Award[16]
  • 2007: Agriculture Research Service Science Hall of Fame[11]
  • 2009: Presidential Distinguished Rank Award
  • Lee Hutchison Award for accomplishments in research, mentoring, and outreach to developing countries
  • fellow of the American Phytopathological Society

Example Patents

References
  1. Folta, Kevin. "Talking Biotech: Story of the GMO Hawaiian papaya–Dennis Gonsalves who engineered it and family farms it saved". Genetic Literacy Project.
  2. "The man behind the Rainbow – Biology Fortified, Inc". Biology Fortified, Inc. June 21, 2012. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  3. Kaesuk Yoon, Carol (July 20, 1999). "Stalked by Deadly Virus, Papaya Lives to Breed Again". The New York Times.
  4. "Papaya: A GMO success story". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  5. "Is Genetic Engineering Always a Bad Thing? ~ Jennifer Mo". Elephant Journal. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  6. Mo, Jennifer. "The man behind the rainbow". Biology Fortified.
  7. Helm, Adolph (March 18, 2008). "Taro: The enemy is disease not genetic engineering". The Garden Island.
  8. Conroe, Joan. "Dennis Gonsalves: Public Sector Hero". Alliance for Science.
  9. Gonsalves D. (2015). "The wayward Hawaiian boy returns home". Annual Review of Phytopathology. 53: 1–17. doi:10.1146/annurev-phyto-080614-120314. PMID 25898280.
  10. Gonsalves D. (2006). "Transgenic papaya: development, release, impact and challenges. Adv Virus Res". Advances in Virus Research. 67: 317–54. doi:10.1016/S0065-3527(06)67009-7. PMID 17027684.
  11. Cheung, Debra. "2007 Award of Distinction Recipients – UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences". caes.ucdavis.edu. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  12. Kamiya, Joni. "Talking Biotech: Story of the GMO Hawaiian papaya–Dennis Gonsalves who engineered it and family farms it saved". Genetic Literacy Project.
  13. Mo, Jennifer (June 21, 2012). "The Man Behind the Rainbow Papaya". Biology Fortified.
  14. University of Hawai'i. "Hawaii Researchers Receive Prestigious 2002 von Humboldt Award for Agriculture".
  15. "ASPB Award". CABI. AgBiotechNet.
  16. USDA (2007). "ARS Science Hall Of Fame".
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