For Immediate Release
San Diego, California (April 19, 2010) — Cibus, a pioneering plant trait development firm, today announced that it has created two new positions to strengthen its scientific management team. Gail Hall will join the team as Vice President for Trait Management, and Greg Gocal will be promoted to Vice President, Research.
“As Cibus continues to expand its trait development activities through a number of new global partnerships, we are strengthening our senior management team in R&D to properly position the organization for anticipated future growth,” said Peter Beetham, Senior Vice President of Research, Cibus. “Trait development in plant genetics requires significant project management experience associated with strict timelines, and Gail brings a strong background in this field. In his ten years with Cibus, Greg has been an integral part of building the Cibus team to its present position, and has become one of the world leaders in Rapid Trait Development System™ (RTDS®) technology. We’re pleased to welcome them both to their new management roles.”
Gail Hall, Vice President for Trait Management
In her newly-created position, Ms. Hall will work closely with the management team on trait development for all of Cibus’s programs. Prior to joining Cibus, Ms. Hall’s experience included clinical, marketing and regulatory activities as a senior manager and project leader in a diverse range of global chemical and drug companies, including Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., SONUS Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Mallinckrodt Medical Inc. Most recently, she held the post of Vice President Clinical Affairs at IMCOR Pharmaceutical Co., where she facilitated product commercialization and expansion and improved client services.
Her experience with optimizing internal and external resources to accomplish company objectives, managing diverse challenges, and analyzing and effectively communicating project results to a variety of audiences will complement the current management team as Cibus moves its products from the laboratory to the field. Ms. Hall completed her BA degree in Biology/Chemistry at Southern Illinois University. Additionally, she was awarded an MSc in Microbiology/Biochemistry from North Carolina State University, and an MBA from Duke University through their Executive MBA Program.
Greg Gocal, Vice President, Research
Dr. Gocal rises to the new position of Vice President, Research from his position as Director, Research. He will lead scientific activities to deliver on many of RTDS’s new applications. Prior to joining Cibus, Dr. Gocal was the scientist leading the molecular biology group of the Plant and Industrial Products Division at ValiGen. Since joining Cibus he has held various research management positions primarily focused on developing the molecular aspects of the technology including target characterization, mutation discovery, molecular screening and assay development. Dr. Gocal has been central in developing the RTDS technology in plant and microbial systems.
Dr. Gocal has studied many aspects of plant biology. He was awarded a BSc in Biochemistry/Botany and an MSc in Plant Physiology from the University of Calgary. He worked at CSIRO Plant Industry in Canberra, Australia where he received his PhD in Plant Molecular Biology from the Australian National University studying floral initiation of a grass Lolium temulentum, then continued to study the molecular biology of floral initiation/development as a postdoctoral scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Gocal has authored numerous peer reviewed publications and is a co-inventor of several patent applications.
RTDS, Cibus’ proprietary gene conversion technology, enables seed producers to develop plants that are quicker to market with less regulatory expense. RTDS is a non-transgenic approach for providing plant improvements as compared to classical genetic transformation, a process leading to GM products. During the last 15 months, Cibus has successfully secured nearly $50 million in research contracts with partners to develop non-transgenic traits in crops around the world which has lead to a significant expansion of research and commercial based activities for Cibus.
Cibus® is a leading agricultural technology company that develops, and licenses gene edited plant traits to seed companies. Its traits enable farmers to manage productivity and sustainability challenges such as diseases, pests, weeds, fertilizer use and climate change. Cibus' goal is to use its trait technology to create a new generation of crops that are more adaptable to their environment and have increased yields while requiring less chemicals. Cibus' patented RTDS® technology platform has enabled agriculture's first standardized end-to-end gene editing trait prototype and production system: the Trait Machine™. The Trait Machine represents a technological breakthrough in plant breeding that broadens the range and scale of possible trait solutions that makes more diverse germplasm accessible, materially shortens trait breeding timelines, and shortens the time to market traits. Cibus' technologies and traits are accelerating agriculture's jump to a climate smart, more sustainable crop production system and the industry's move to sustainable lowcarbon ingredients.