Plant Gene Banks and Foods Security

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThomas Brutnell is a researcher and entrepreneur specializing in plant genomics, agricultural biotechnology and plant natural products. As the vice president of Gateway Biotechnology, Thomas Brutnell is developing a plant natural product that has demonstrated benefits in preventing and treating tinnitus.

Plant genomics is a science with significant potential, especially as it relates to food security and crop diversity and improvement. In particular, one way that plant genomics is helping to ensure food security is through the collection, sequencing, and classification of gene banks and seed banks. Seed banks are a vital element in the preservation and organization of crop taxonomy and origins.

Studying these resources can provide significant insight into how desired traits are selected and passed on. Large scale studies, although they are logistically challenging, are among the best ways to undertake this sort of research. Ultimately, researchers might be able to use the data to create a generalizable framework for the improvement of other crops including those with medicinal properties.

Gateway Biotechnology Receives Patent for Preventing Hearing Loss

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Based in Missouri, Thomas Brutnell guides Viridis Genomics Consulting and works with business and academic clients in the plant biotechnology sphere. As Gateway Biotechnology, Inc.’s vice president, Thomas Brutnell is spearheading next-generation research and development for preventing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and tinnitus through innovative drug solutions. This approach uses repurposed medications with extensive safety records behind them to quickly move effective treatments to the market.

In October 2019, Gateway Biotechnology announced that it had received US patent number 10,434,097 for the development of tetrandrine (TET), a compound isolated from a plant used in traditional Chinese medicine. The patent draws on NIH-funded research that has demonstrated that TET is capable of protecting against more than 80 percent of noise treatment-induced damage.

As the firm’s cofounder and CEO Jianxin Bao, PhD, described it, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved any therapeutics against NIHL to-date, which is a major worldwide health issue that can result in tinnitus, or a persistent ringing in the ears. The plan is to rapidly transition TET into clinical studies that can help bring a therapy at the vanguard of science to market.

Charting the Future of Synthetic Biology

Accomplished plant biotechnology professional Thomas Brutnell serves as the vice president of Gateway Biotechnology, where he oversees the transition from drug discovery to product development. He also founded Viridis Genomics Consulting to help bridge the divide between academic and industry science. As a geneticist and molecular engineer Thomas Brutnell has a broad range of interests that includes C4 photosynthesis, breeding, plant tissue culture, and synthetic biology.

The 20-year-old field of synthetic biology promises a future of exciting advances. Potential future advances in synthetic biology include fire-resistant lumber produced from genetically engineered trees, modified organs that are less likely to be rejected, and synthetic microbes that are capable of detecting an impending attack by disease organisms.

On June 19, 2019, the Engineering Biology Research Consortium, an initiative funded in part by the National Science Foundation, created a roadmap towards the future of synthetic biology. The Consortium agreed that synthetic biology is mature enough to offer solutions to a wide range of societal challenges.

More than 80 engineers and scientists from diverse disciplines and different universities and companies collaborated to provide a strong case to demonstrate the need for the federal government to invest in synthetic biology. With all the avenues that are open for biotechnological development, America should be at the forefront of these developments. The Consortium believes that now is the time to make synthetic biology a federal priority.

The roadmap serves as a guide for where synthetic biology should aim over the next two decades. It will also guide government investments, particularly those that relate to the spectrum of the Department of National Defense, Department of Energy, and National Institutes of Health.

The FAO’s Principles for Sustainable Agriculture

With more than 25 years of professional experience in plant biotechnology, Thomas Brutnell founded Viridis Genomics Consulting to advise academic and industry scientists, as well as institutional investors, on strategies to advance plant breeding objectives. Through Viridis, Thomas Brutnell has had the privilege of working with leading researchers and scientists on finding solutions to key challenges facing sustainable agriculture.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has listed sustainable agriculture as a key priority on its post-2015 development agenda. In 2015, an estimated 793 million people worldwide were chronically hungry. Unsustainable agricultural practices were the greatest contributing factor to this problem.

This challenge led to the FAO’s development of principles that serve as a guide for the development of strategies and approaches to promote a global transition to sustainable agriculture.

Principle 1 states that more efficient use of available resources is critical to achieving sustainable agriculture. This may involve the modification of current practices to improve the production of food, and agricultural systems overall.

Principle 2 states that conservation, protection, and enhancement of natural resources are central to achieving sustainable agriculture.

Principle 3 states that any agricultural practice that does not protect or improve the livelihood and well-being of rural communities is unsustainable.

Principle 4 states that sustainable agriculture must make people, communities, and ecosystems resilient– especially in critical situations such as market volatility and climate change, which tend to destabilize agricultural systems. Policies, practices, and technologies must develop producers’ resilience to these threats in order to ensure sustainability.

Principle 5 states that in order for natural and human systems to be sustainable, good governance is essential.

As noted by Thomas Brutnell “at Viridis Genomics Consulting, we embrace these principles and strive to develop sustainable solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change while ensuring a safe and abundant food supply for generations to come”.