The Prize Committee for Agriculture has unanimously decided that the 2006/7 Wolf Prize be jointly awarded to
Ronald L. Phillips
University of Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
and
Michel A. J. Georges
University of Liège
Liège, Belgium
for groundbreaking discoveries in genetics and genomics, laying the foundations for improvements in crop and livestock breeding, and sparking important advances in plant and animal sciences.
Professor Ronald L. Phillips
He was the first to generate whole corn plants from cells grown in culture, which laid the foundation for, and sparked, a new industry, using cell-culture methods to genetically modify corn plants and other cereals. The corn cell line most widely used in the world today for genetic modification of corn has greatly accelerated the improvement of corn, as food, feed and fuel. Fundamental studies in the Phillips laboratory have further led to the identification of cells and plants with increased levels of essential amino acids and the development of an efficient DNA sequence mapping system used by plant scientists in genomics research. Phillips is also world-renowned for his leadership and service in the field of plant science within international agricultural research communities and for his teaching and student training in plant genetics.
Professor Michel A. J. Georges
With his group, Georges has been a world leader in the field of animal genetics and genomics, and in the development of tools and strategies for increasing the efficiency of genome analysis for livestock improvement. Georges has applied his methods to the identification and mapping of genes affecting economically important single-gene (e.g. polled, double-muscling, callipyge, weaver, congenital muscular distonia), as well as complex multi-gene traits (e.g. milk and fattening yield and quality, fertility, disease resistance). In addition, he has established working relationships with the major breeding organizations in many countries, well beyond his homeland of Belgium, helping them to apply the results of his discoveries on a large scale, using so-called marker assisted selection to accelerate the otherwise slow process of farm animal improvement. His approach to genome analysis and to the dissection of complex traits is also of interest in the field of genetics in general, and has led to insights relevant to genetic diseases in humans. Georges is also a pioneer in opening up the field of epigenetics for animals, a hereditary form that does not conform to simple Mendelian rules. He is considered a giant within the animal genetics and genomics community, both for his genius and for generously sharing his ideas.