MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (January 2, 2008) -- After an extensive nationwide search, the University of Minnesota’s Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Transposon Research has a new director.
Dan Voytas, Ph.D., comes from Iowa State University where he has worked in genetic engineering since 1992. Voytas is a Minnesota native who earned his doctorate from Harvard Medical School and completed his postdoctoral work at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
His research focus has been on transposable elements, also called transposons, which are discrete pieces of DNA that can change their position on chromosomes by “jumping.”
Much of the work motivating transposon research at the Beckman Center concerns how transposons can be used to modify genomes – both to better understand basic biological processes and to develop new therapeutic strategies for human genetic disease.
“The University of Minnesota – through the Beckman Center – has one of the world’s strongest constellations of researchers working on transposable elements and harnessing them for a variety of applications in basic and applied technology,” Voytas said. “Many important breakthroughs have been made at the U of M, including using DNA transposons to deliver genes for gene therapy and to identify genes that underlie important diseases such as cancer.”
Since Voytas also has a longstanding interest in plant genetic engineering, he’ll have laboratories both in the Medical School and on the St. Paul campus, which will allow him to continue research in plants.
Voytas said he hopes to expand the center by promoting the many new technologies that are being developed to manipulate genomes to augment and complement existing research programs, and he plans to expand the impact of the Beckman Center’s research to applications in plant agriculture.
The Academic Health Center is home to the University of Minnesota’s six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes. Founded in 1851, the University is one of the oldest and largest land grant institutions in the country. The AHC prepares the new health professionals who improve the health of communities, discover and deliver new treatments and cures, and strengthen the health economy.
Contact: Nick Hanson, Academic Health Center, (612) 624-2449
Molly Portz, Academic Health Center, (612) 625-2640