Forage Genetics has named Dr. Stephen Temple as director of molecular biology and transformation and head of its new transformation laboratory which becomes operational later this month. Research on alfalfa transformation and gene expression will be conducted in the new facility located at the company’s West Salem, Wisconsin, headquarters.

"We are thrilled to have Dr. Temple join our research team and see his leadership, together with construction of this new state-of-the-art molecular biology and alfalfa transformation laboratory, as key to maintaining our industry-leading position in alfalfa biotechnology," said Dr. Mark McCaslin, president of Forage Genetics. "The technology access agreements we’ve signed, coupled with this new facility, provide us with all the pieces necessary to take full advantage of opportunities for incorporation and development of new value-added traits for alfalfa."

"Specifically, the new lab will be equipped to prepare constructs for alfalfa transformation and analyze the resulting transgenic plants," said Dr. Temple. "Forage Genetics has developed a very efficient transformation system and has access to an exciting array of genes, promoters and expression enhancement elements."

 Dr. Temple joins Forage Genetics from the University of Minnesota where he was a senior research specialist in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics working on alfalfa molecular biology with Dr. Carol Vance. Prior to that he was a research specialist working on genetic engineering of alfalfa with Dr. Sengupta-Gopalan in the Agronomy and Horticulture Department of New Mexico State University.

Dr. Temple received his bachelor’s degree from Coventry Polytechnic, England, and his doctorate from the University of Lancaster, England.

Forage Genetics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Research Seeds, Inc. of St. Joseph, Missouri, is an industry leader in the research, development and marketing of value-added alfalfa technologies. Research Seeds is recognized as a worldwide leader in the development, production and marketing of proprietary forage and turf seed and microbials.

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